HELPING COMMUNITIES AND ECOSYSTEMS ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE

THE PROBLEM

Along with addressing the emissions gap to reduce the rate of temperature change and climate change impacts, there is also an urgent need to decrease the adaptation gap and to reduce the vulnerability of people and ecosystems to the effects of climate change. International efforts to support adaptation have been increasing in the past years, but several challenges remain when attempting to up-scale adaptation efforts in developing countries. Barriers include limited access to financing, capacity, and knowledge to support adaptation planning and action.

THE SOLUTION

To meet this challenge, UNEP helps build capacity among governments and communities for planning and implementing adaptation actions. UNEP’s approach towards building climate resilience focuses on a range of support services
These services include:

• Supporting research, pilot projects, and other activities that demonstrate how vulnerability to climate change can be reduced through Ecosystem- Based Adaptation (EBA) approaches, which can also contribute to closing the emissions gap through carbon sequestration
• Strengthening the ability of countries to undertake vulnerability and impact assessments
• Providing countries with knowledge, tools, and policy support for adaptation decision-making, planning and implementation
• Improving access to adaptation finance and supporting finance readiness, particularly among Least Developed Countries

THE IMPACTS

Ecosystem-Based Adaptation is a key approach and focus area of UNEP’s overall adaptation portfolio. In this regard, UNEP is working closely with the governments of Nepal, Peru and Uganda to demonstrate EBA in mountain ecosystems and to incorporate EBA in adaptation plans. Implementation of a project on coastal ecosystems in selected Small Island States supported by the European Commission (EC) will begin in 2013. Exchanges of adaptation knowledge, good practices and capacity building through climate change networks are progressing well in Asia Pacific, Latin America and West Asia, with a focus on vulnerability and impact assessments, training and knowledge-sharing workshops, and development of online knowledge management tools.
UNEP is supporting countries to design and implement adaptation projects (with a focus on EBA), under the Global Environment Facility, the Least Developed Countries Fund and the Adaptation Fund. Implementation has now started for Adaptation Fund projects in Tanzania, Madagascar and Cambodia. UNEP also recently supported Paraguay to develop an Adaptation Fund proposal.

SUPPORT

Key donors (selected): Germany, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Japan, EC, Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), Adaptation Fund. Key partners (selected): International Union for Conservation of Nature, United Nations Development Programme.

WEBSITE

• www.unep.org/climatechange/adaptation

SUCCESS STORY

UNEP is collaborating with UNDP and IUCN with the support of the German ministry of environment on a joint programme to implement EBA approaches in mountain ecosystems in Nepal, Peru and Uganda. Countries are supported in maintaining and restoring the functioning of ecosystems to provide adaptation services, and in strengthening in-country capacity to implement adaptation actions. Local communities, national government agencies and other actors are closely in involved in the implementation through action-learning and capacity building activities.
UNEP-supported LDCF adaptation projects are starting to deliver results on the ground, for example in Djibouti, where mangroves have been rehabilitated to reduce coastal erosion and floods from sea level rise.
In order to assist national planners and decision-makers select, design, implement and track EBA approaches as part of a wider adaptation strategy, UNEP together with partners has developed a new ‘EBA Decision Support Framework’ (EBA-DSF) draft guidance document. The EBA-DSF centers around four iterative steps and strategic considerations: Setting Adaptive Context – Selecting Appropriate Adaptation Options – Design for Change – Adaptive Implementation. The EBA-DSF is being transformed into a capacity building platform to support the implementation of National Adaptation Programmes of Actions and other adaptation actions. Next steps include the pilot testing and refinement of the framework, as well as the development of practical modules for monitoring & evaluation and community-based adaptation, ecosystem-specific modules, and related training packages.

Source: Re-blogged from http://www.unep.org

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