Engage: Climate adaptation policies: local, national, and international
Introduction: Engaging in climate adaptation policies: Local, national, and international
This module takes a closer look at climate adaptation policies at the local, regional, national and international levels. It highlights key adaptation plans and policies, including National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions. It includes guidance for how young people can get involved in shaping adaptation policy processes. It also examines key issues related to climate finance and the adaptation funding gap.
What will I learn in this module?
By the end of the module, you will:
Have a broad understanding of international climate governance and the main United Nations climate change policy processes.
Know about the main climate adaptation policy frameworks at global, national and local levels.
Understand the importance of youth engagement in climate adaptation policy processes and know more about how to engage in these processes.
Understand global climate finance mechanisms and some of the challenges in accessing climate funds for adaptation.
The below infographic provides a summary of the key content in this module:
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Index
Climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a United Nations plan of action for People, Planet and Prosperity (famously known as the 3 Ps). The Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets demonstrate its scale and ambition. The SDGS are the global framework for sustainable development. The global goals set targets to guide countries in formulating and implementing national development plans.
The SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Without urgent climate action (SDG 13), it will be impossible to reach the other SDGs by 2030.
All SDGs are deeply interconnected with SDG 13 on climate action. If climate change is not stopped, the entire Agenda is threatened.
Figure 1: The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Source: United Nations, no date.
Without urgent action, climate impacts could push an additional 132 million people into poverty by 2030.
2. Zero Hunger
Climate change poses severe and distinct threats to food security and could subject an additional 600 million people to malnutrition by 2080. By the 2080s, land unsuitable for agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa due to severe climate, soil or terrain constraints may increase by 30 million to 60 million hectares.
3. Good health and well-being
Climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress. The direct damage costs to health are estimated to be between USD 2 billion and 4 billion per year by 2030.
4. Quality Education
Childhood exposure to climate shocks, such as droughts and floods, has an unequal impact on children’s development, affecting their nutrition and access to education. This impedes their learning progress, with the poorest children most affected.
5. Gender Equality
Women face widespread discrimination in the distribution of assets, services and information – such as secure and adequate land, credit, education and training, employment opportunities, mobility, climate and market information services, inputs, and technologies.8 They are less likely to be able to access information and support that could help them better manage the impacts of climate change.
6. Clean Water and sanitation
More than 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress. The situation will likely worsen as populations and the demand for water increase, and as the impacts of climate change intensify. With the existing climate change scenario, by 2030 water scarcity in some arid and semi-arid places will displace between 24 million and 700 million people.10 Furthermore, following climate- induced disasters, women and girls often lack access to safe and adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management.
13. Climate Action
The climate impacts associated with the other SDGs indicate why it is essential to take urgent and ambitious climate action. One of the targets for SDG 13 is to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate- related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
International climate governance and adaptation policies
Tackling the climate crisis requires national and regional action and international cooperation. Policies are necessary to help reduce emissions sufficiently and ensure resilient societies. Due to the global nature of climate change, global cooperation and rules are required.
The UNFCCC is the key policy framework, with the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 being the universal tool for its implementation. The processes supporting implementation of the Paris Agreement have become multi-layered over time. The Conference of Parties (COP) is the annual main event. Preparatory sessions for all governments and constituted bodies focus on specific themes (such as adaptation, finance, mitigation, capacity building, loss and damage). The Parties to the Convention have met annually from 1995 to assess progress in dealing with climate change.
The aim of the Convention is to stabilize greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system.”12 The Convention states that “such a level should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.”
Toolkit for Youth on Leadership & Adaptation – Module 6 13 Press conference at COP27, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Credit: UNFCCC.
The UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP)
The COP takes place every year. It is the supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC. All 198 Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP. Countries use the COP to review the implementation of the UNFCCC and other legal instruments the COP adopts, such as the Paris Agreement. The COP informs decisions governments make to promote implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.
The timeline in Figure 3 highlights the evolution of the adaptation landscape under the UNFCCC. In the early stages of the UNFCCC, there were moderate considerations for adaptation. Parties were requested to submit assessments of climate change impacts to highlight the need for adaptation in their national communications.
The IPCC’s Third Assessment Report in 2001 highlighted that mitigation alone would not be enough to respond to climate change, and that adaptation was essential. Parties started planning and implementing adaptation actions. The least-developed countries (LDCs) were supported to prepare and implement National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) to help plan and implement immediate adaptation actions.
In 2010, Parties emphasized that adaptation must be addressed with the same priority as mitigation and developed several mechanisms for ensuring this. In 2013, work on enhancing knowledge and improving coordination for adaptation was launched, which fed into the Paris Agreement.
Figure 2: Evolution of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Source: UNFCCC (no date).
The Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement is the first climate deal that establishes common obligations for all countries (except for the provision of financial support, which is only an obligation for developed countries). It was adopted at COP21 in December 2015 and came into force in November 2016.
Before 2015, there had been negotiations that focused on developing agreements for climate change, but these had different levels of success. The Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and sought to implement binding emission reductions, experienced several drawbacks, including a failure to implement the set target. In Copenhagen in December 2009, parties failed to come to a consensus on an agreement that would replace it.
The Paris Agreement’s objective is to keep the increase in global temperatures well below
2 °C above pre-industrial levels, while making efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 °C. The Agreement addresses adaptation to climate change, financial and other support for developing countries, technology transfer and capacity building, as well as loss and damage.
To drive up ambition, the Paris Agreement requires each country to submit an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) every five years. An NDC is a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Starting in 2023, and then five years thereafter, governments will take stock of their actions to assess the collective progress towards achieving the goals of the Agreement. This regular “global stocktake” informs the next round of NDCs.
Figure 3: Key steps to enhance Ambition. Source: Franzen et al., 2017.
National climate adaptation policies - what you need to know
As a young climate advocate, it’s important to know about the different elements of national adaptation policies – so you understand the processes and ways you can engage. This will help you play your part in shaping local and national climate change adaptation plans and strategies.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
As already discussed, an NDC is a country’s climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Governments submit their updated NDCs to the UNFCCC Secretariat every five years. The NDCs generally contain high-level information on expected climate impacts, mitigation and adaptation priorities, and reduction targets for each country.
It is important to know when these submissions will take place. They are an opportunity for you to input on NDCs about what you want to see in national and international policies (see Figure 5 for the NDC timeline). To learn more about your country’s NDC submissions visit the United Nations’ NDC registry.
Figure 4: The NDC updating timeline. Source: UNICEF/UNDP, no date.
National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs)
A National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) is a process for identifying priority actions to respond to urgent adaptation needs – those for which further delay could increase vulnerability in a particular country. NAPAs are specifically for LDCs, to support them in addressing the challenge of climate change, given their high vulnerability. (You can access existing NAPAs via the UNFCCC’s website).
National Adaptation Plans (NAPs)
On top of the NAPAs, LDCs developed (or are developing) National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). These strategic documents complement the NAPAs. They identify a country’s medium- and long-term adaptation priorities, and the strategies for addressing and tracking them.
The structure and form of NAPs vary by country and may include sectoral plans and sub- national plans for addressing adaptation needs. All NAPs include information on current and future climate change impacts and adaptation priorities.
National Communications
To keep track of how countries are progressing with their climate actions, the UNFCCC requires a group of countries known as Non-Annex 1 countries (most of which are developing countries) to submit reports (known as National Communications) periodically.
These reports highlight development priorities, objectives and national circumstances, including ongoing action and needs for meeting adaptation and mitigation goals and the objectives of the Convention.
Countries are expected to submit these reports within three years of joining the Convention, and every four years thereafter. Most African countries have submitted at least one National Communication. (You can find all submitted National Communications at the UNFCCC’s website).
Continental and regional climate adaptation strategies
While African countries have their own adaptation plans and processes, there are also strategies for the continent, as well as certain regions.
The East Africa Community (EAC) has a climate change policy, a climate change strategy and a climate change master plan.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted its first Regional Climate Strategy in 2022 to inform long-term climate action.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has a Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, which outlines coordinated regional and national actions to respond to the impacts of climate change.
Local-level climate adaptation policies
Influencing policies, and planning to address climate change and prepare for its impacts, is relevant globally and nationally. Climate change adaptation is context specific, so local action matters.
Where provinces or districts take planning and investment decisions, even if they are just implementing national-level plans, some of these can be climate-smart, others less so. In Kenya, the Bungoma County climate change policy and environment policy, developed in 2020, is a good example of a local-level adaptation policy.
Young Climate Activists at COP27. Credit: UNFCCC.
How young people can engage in adaptation policy making
There are numerous ways you can engage in adaptation policy processes and make your voice heard.
UNFCCC
Collaborate with other youth organizations that participate in the UNFCCC to work together in the climate adaptation space. Look to connect with organizations that represent different groups, including young people, environmental organizations, indigenous peoples, women and people with different gender identities.
Join YOUNGO, the official Children and Youth Constituency of the UNFCCC. You can contact YOUNGO focal points to organize and participate in meetings (including the COPs), talks and events.
Join the Global Centre on Adaptation’s Youth Adaptation Network, a platform to access adaptation knowledge and campaigning materials, with opportunities to implement adaptation action on the ground, and connect with leaders at the forefront of the global response to climate change.
Write an email to your country’s UNFCCC Head of Delegation asking to join COP as a youth representative. (A list of national focal points is available from the UNFCCC website).
The Paris Agreement
Learn more about this monumental agreement from the resources provided in this toolkit and from the UNFCCC. As a climate advocate who wants to engage in adaptation policy, it’s important to be familiar with the Paris Agreement.
NDCs
Participate in NDC processes if these are established in your country. If these processes are not in place, advocate for creating mechanisms to involve young people in the process of formulating, implementing and updating NDCs.
Conduct youth consultations on NDCs to provide recommendations for improvements to decision makers and increase ambition.
Monitor the results of the different parts of the NDC process. This will help you identify challenges in the process that you may help to improve.
NAPs
Engage with decision makers to ensure young people are integrated as part of the NAP.
Share simplified information on NAPs with other young people to promote engagement and increase the pool of young climate advocates who can monitor how NAPs are implemented.
Regional and local-level climate adaptation policies
Urge your country to adopt a climate change strategy. If it already exists, find out how it is being implemented.
Advocate for integrating young people into regional and local climate adaptation strategies.
Train future generations (adolescents and children) on climate advocacy and climate adaptation issues so that knowledge is passed from generation to generation, and the movement continues to grow.
Organize or join an awareness-raising campaign to encourage public understanding of climate change, its effects, and the actions young people can take to mitigate its anticipated impacts.
Write a lobby letter and/or meet with the Minister of Climate Change (if your government has one) and/or your member of parliament who sits on the parliamentary committee on climate change.
Start a petition for a climate change adaptation policy issue.
Stay informed and share what you know
Monitor your country’s climate reports. Your government may publish these online. Reading these reports will provide you with information to help develop climate action in your community and country.
Read your country’s adaptation communication. You can find all submitted National Communications at the UNFCCC’s website.
Share information about climate change and adaptation actions on your social networks.
Start a social media campaign using #Youth4Adaptation.
YOUNGO: bringing young peoples’ voices to international climate negotiations
If you have ambitions of getting involved in the UNFCCC process, check out YOUNGO, the official children and youth constituency of the UNFCCC. This global network of young activists (up to 35 years old) and youth NGOs helps shape intergovernmental climate change policies and empowers young people to formally bring their voices to UNFCCC processes.
YOUNGO has working groups that focus on different aspects of the UNFCCC negotiations and beyond. These work to ensure that the perspectives of young and future generations are considered in the international decision-making processes. YOUNGO members observe and report on climate negotiations and the implications of their outcomes.
Each year YOUNGO plans and hosts the Conference of Youth (COY), which takes place right before the COP, in the host country. The COY prepares young people to participate in COP.
Did you know? You can engage in the COP without travelling there
As a young climate advocate, you may not have the funds or ability to travel to the annual COPs. But this doesn’t mean you can’t participate. There are many ways you can influence the world’s biggest climate change meeting. To take part you can:
Share position papers in advance of the COP with policymakers and/or the media.
Request a meeting with the country’s delegation in advance of the COP to explain your organization’s positions and demands.
Provide concrete suggestions for the text in negotiation documents that governments are working on.
Approach policymakers via social media.
Engage in marches and demonstrations, which often take place in many countries during or around a COP
All the plans and policies for addressing climate change and adapting to its impacts cost a substantial amount of money. For example, the money needed for global adaptation efforts could reach USD 140- 300 billion per year in the 2030s, and up to USD 500 billion per year in the 2050s.
While money is needed for adaptation, large investments are also needed for technology and infrastructure to reduce emissions. The money that goes toward climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts is called climate finance. This is drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing.
The UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement call for developed countries to provide financial assistance to developing countries for climate action, adaptation and mitigation. International adaptation finance to developing countries continues to rise. It reached USD 28.6 billion in 2020, representing a 34% share of total climate finance to developing countries in 2020. However, there is still a huge financing gap.
UNEP estimates that for developing countries, the money needed for adaptation could be five to 10 times greater than current international public adaptation finance flows. This discrepancy between the finances needed and those available to developing countries is known as the “adaptation finance gap.” This means that there needs to be a significant acceleration in how much money is made available for adaptation finance.
Figure 5: The different international climate finance mechanisms. Source: Climate Funds Update, 2019.
Adaptation funds
There are a handful of funds dedicated to supporting adaptation. You can learn more about the six main ones, and what each is worth, via the interactive Climate Funds Update website.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was created in 2010 to promote a “paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change.”
The GCF is the world’s largest climate fund and a critical element of the Paris Agreement. It supports developing countries in realizing their NDC ambitions. Its mandate is to deliver a 50:50 balance between the money it allocates for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. Given the urgency and seriousness of the climate crisis, the GCF is mandated to make an ambitious contribution to the united global response to climate change.
Challenges in accessing climate funds
While various climate financing mechanisms exist, there are several challenges to accessing climate funds. A 2021 report from IIED highlights the following challenges:
1. Climate finance is not balanced as agreed under the Paris Agreement, with adaptation
Finance making up just 20% of overall climate finance flows. Only a fraction of climate finance goes to LDCs and small island developing states (SIDS). Of the funds that go to LDCs, more than half is in the form of loans. Less than 10% of global climate finance, meanwhile, is committed to local action.
2. Development finance itself is scarce, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even without the pandemic, estimates suggest that USD 1 trillion is needed to meet the SDGs, which requires an increase of 750% above current levels. Currently, just over half of official development assistance (ODA) is aligned to the goals of the Paris Agreement.
How young people can engage with climate finance
As already highlighted, there is a need for more finance for climate change adaptation. As a young person working to secure a better future through climate action, it’s important to understand and engage with climate financing. There are various ways you can do this:
Create a networking platform for youth engaged in climate action and help them organize community projects and participate in designing climate change adaptation projects at the national, sub-national and local levels.
Track how climate change adaptation finance is spent in your country. This involves looking at how much is channeled to adaptation versus mitigation, who benefits, and whether projects are protecting the rights of local communities. The Climate Funds Update website is a useful tool for tracking climate finance, as is the GCF. If climate finance is being channeled through a non-governmental organization, you may be
able to see how the money is being used if the organization is willing to share its data or has it freely available. Once you know where adaptation projects are taking place, you may be able to organize field visits for monitoring and evaluation. You can then engage with communities to see if they are benefitting from projects and find out if their rights are being protected. (Note: to do this, you will first need to get approval from the organizations implementing the projects).
You can be a key player in advocacy around key climate finance issues. For example, you may advocate to ensure that programs that seek funding from the GCF and
other international climate finance mechanisms are designed to include the needs of vulnerable groups, such as women, girls and children.
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Deepen your understanding. Find links to supporting scientific research, important publications, and tools
WATCH the video SDG Climate Action 13 (11:18) to learn more about SDG 13 on climate action. The video explains the goal’s five targets and related indicators and the progress made so far.
EXPLORE the online tool SDG Tracker to keep track of global progress on the SDGs.
UNFCCC, COP and the Paris Agreement
READ this guide for first timers at the COP for Newbies, from YOUNGO.
EXPLORE this interactive timeline of the UNFCCC negotiations, which shows key milestones in the evolution of international climate policy.
LISTEN to this recording (4:22) about the history of adaptation in international negotiations from the establishment of the UNFCCC to 2015 in Paris.
National climate change policies
EXPLORE all the NDCs available at the NDC Registry. Some countries have regional or local strategies for climate change that you can find either online or by meeting regional and local authorities.
EXPLORE the Grantham Institute’s Climate Change Laws of the World database to learn about climate change policies and laws of countries across the world. Can you find the policies and regulations for your own country?
International climate finance and the Green Climate Fund
EXPLORE the Climate Funds Update website to learn about the growing number of multilateral climate finance initiatives designed to help developing countries address the challenges of climate change.
LEARN about the GCF by taking this Introduction to the Green Climate Fund online course, where you will get a better understanding of what the GCF is, what it has been set up for, and why it is unique.
READ the Green Climate Fund Proposal Toolkit 2017, produced by Acclimatise and the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, to learn how to develop a project proposal for the GCF.
LEARN about key considerations when developing and implementing GCF projects, and the role of civil society organizations in accessing the GCF by taking this short online course, Developing and Implementing GCF Funding Proposals.
LEARN how to prepare proposals that are aligned with the GCF’s requirements with a short online course: Developing and Implementing GCF Funding Proposals. You will gain a better understanding of how to develop GCF proposals, taking GCF investment criteria into account along with key considerations for developing and implementing GCF projects. The course also covers how to integrate gender into GCF project proposals and the role of civil society organizations in accessing the GCF and project design.
WATCH this short video (4:20) to learn about the mandate, role and structure of the GCF.
Issues with climate finance for adaptation
READ the report Climate Adaptation Finance: Fact or Fiction? to find out how adaptation finance flows are overestimated, as large amounts of climate finance have been allocated to projects that have nothing to do with adaptation, such as the “Nhat Tan Friendship Bridge” in Vietnam. In fact, this project corresponds to a financial commitment to fund the construction of a bridge to meet Hanoi’s traffic demands and link the city center with Noi Bai Airport.
READDelivering Real Change, a working paper from IIED that highlights how adaptation finance is not reaching the local level. According to researchers, and despite compelling evidence that in many cases more effective, efficient, and sustainable climate change action can be achieved at the local level, less than 10% of climate finance committed from international climate funds by 2016 was prioritized for local-level activities.
READ how adaptation finance is not integrating gender by looking at Chapter 7 ‘Mainstreaming gender equality’ in Climate Adaptation Finance: Fact or Fiction. About 47% of adaptation projects do not mainstream gender equality, and either have a gender marker of zero or are not marked at all.
Building resilience and promoting inclusive governance
Learn about the Strengthening Resilience and Promoting Inclusive Governance Program (STRENPO) program, which aims to build resilience among women and young people in vulnerable, natural resource-dependent communities, including refugee settlements, to shocks and stresses from natural resource degradation, climate change, and conflict and displacement.
Strengthening capacity for local adaptation planning
As part of the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA), CARE in Mozambique was involved in developing an approach for participatory Local Adaptation Plans (LAPs) as a national climate-resilience planning model. This approach was also adopted by the government. With further government funding, the initiative was scaled up to include 60 communities.
Tools to inspire action
EXPLORE the CliMates international laboratory of ideas and actions for inspiration. CliMates brings together volunteers, students and young professionals around climate issues. It is a collective of serious and creative young people, sharing a vision for a transition to a low carbon society by informing, empowering and engaging young people in collaborative research, international advocacy and popular mobilization.
WATCH “Please Open Your Hearts” (6:14) and get inspired by Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the World Leaders Summit at COP26.
WATCH Vanessa Nakate’s address “Humanity will not be saved by promises” (7:14) at COP26, where she urges world leaders to act on climate change for future generations.
LISTEN to this interview (on YouTube) with Julius Ng’oma from the Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC) to learn about experience from Malawi on influencing the National Adaptation process.
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Cool Down
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Your last stop. Here, you have space to test your knowledge (with a short quiz) and consider how you can apply what you have learned to your own climate action.
Test your understanding
You have learnt a lot and have many red hot ideas. Test your knowledge with a quiz and give yourself space to cool down and reflect on what you have learnt. Use this section to take stock of how you will put your skills into action.
1/5
The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC. What does COP stand for? Select the correct answer.
Correct answer:a) Conference of the Parties
EXPLANATION: The COP (Conference of the Parties) occurs every year under the UNFCCC. The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the UNFCCC. All 198 Parties (197 countries and the European Union) to the Convention are represented at the COP. Countries use the COP to review the implementation of the UNFCCC and any other legal instruments the COP adopts, such as the Paris Agreement, and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.
2/5
Countries that are signatories to the Paris Agreement must submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). An NDC is a country’s climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts. How often must countries update and submit their NDCs? Select the correct answer.
Correct answer:c) Every five years
EXPLANATION: Governments submit their updated NDCs to the UNFCCC Secretariat every five years. The NDCs generally contain high-level information on expected climate impacts, mitigation and adaptation priorities, and emissions reduction targets for each country.
3/5
True or false? The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process seeks to identify and address medium- and long-term adaptation needs.
Correct answer:a) True
EXPLANATION: On top of the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), LDCs developed (or are developing) National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). These strategic documents complement the NAPAs. They identify a country’s medium- and long-term adaptation priorities and the strategies for addressing and tracking them.
4/5
Which of the following is a way you can influence regional and local climate adaptation policies? Select the correct answer.
Correct answer:d) All of the above
EXPLANATION: As a young climate advocate, there are numerous ways to engage in adaptation policy making processes and make your voice heard. At the regional and local levels, you can:
Urge your country to adopt a climate change strategy. If it already exists, find out how it is being implemented.
Advocate for integrating young people into regional and local-level climate adaptation strategies. Train future generations (adolescents and children) on climate advocacy and climate adaptation issues so that knowledge is passed from generation to generation, and the movement continues to grow.
Organize or join an awareness-raising campaign to encourage public understanding
of climate change, its effects, and the actions young people can take to mitigate its anticipated impacts.
Write a lobby letter and/or meet with the Minister of Climate Change (if your government has one) and/or your member of parliament who sits on the parliamentary committee on climate change.
Start a petition for a climate change adaptation policy issue.
5/5
The amount of money needed to fund adaptation efforts in developing countries is estimated to be how many times greater than what is currently available from public adaptation finance flows? Select the correct answer.
Correct answer:b) 5-10 times
EXPLANATION: UNEP estimates that for developing countries, the money needed for adaptation could be five to 10 times greater than current international public adaptation finance flows. This discrepancy between the finances needed and those available to developing countries is known as the “adaptation finance gap.”
Congratulations You have now completed this module
Your quiz score is 0 correct answers out of 5 questions.
Reflect and prepare for your climate adaptation action
Climate action starts at home. Now that you have learned about the ways young people can engage in adaptation policy processes, think about how you could influence local climate adaptation policy in your area.
Which policy process would you like to engage in?
Why is this process important? And what impact could you have by engaging?
What can you learn about this process and the key actors involved before you take the steps to get involved?
What steps will you take to get involved in this process? Who do you need to contact? What activities do you plan to be involved in for this process?
What resources do you need to be involved?
What outcomes do you expect? How will your engagement benefit you, other young people, your community or country?
How will you share what you have learned with other young people?
Glossary
Accredited Entities
Accredited Entities partner with GCF to implement projects. Accredited Entities can be private or public, non-governmental, sub-national, national, regional or international, as long as they meet the standards of the Fund. Accredited Entities carry out a range of activities that usually include the development of funding proposals and the management and monitoring of projects and programmes. Countries may access GCF resources through multiple entities simultaneously.
Adaptation finance gap refers to difference between the estimated costs of adaptation and the actual number of financial resources needed to support adaptation efforts. The estimated adaptation costs in developing countries are five to ten times greater than current public adaptation finance flows, and the adaptation finance gap is widening.
Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP)
ASAP was launched by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in 2012 to make climate and environmental finance work for smallholder farmers. A multi-year and multi-donor financing window, ASAP provides a new source of co-financing to scale up and integrate climate change adaptation across IFAD’s new investments.
The Adaptation Fund is a global fund established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol and are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. It pioneered Direct Access, empowering countries to access funding and develop projects directly through accredited national implementing entities.
The Cancun Adaptation Framework is a set of guidelines and measures that were established during the UNCCC held in Cancun in 2010.
The CAF aims to strengthen action on adaptation in developing countries through international cooperation. It will support better planning and implementation of adaptation measures through increased financial and technical support, and through strengthening and/or establishing regional centres and networks. The framework will also boost research, assessments and technology cooperation on adaptation, as well as strengthen education and public awareness.
Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g. using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties that persist for an extended period, typically decades or longer.
The term "climate change" often refers specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.
In human systems, climate change adaptation refers to the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, it refers to the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects.
In practical terms, adaptation refers to the changes people and institutions make to adjust to observed or projected changes in climate. It is an ongoing process that aims to reduce vulnerability to climate change.
Retrieved from: CARE (2019).
Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis Handbook: careclimatechange.org/cvca/
Climate crisis is a term increasingly being used by UN agencies, scientists, media and civil society organizations to better reflect the urgency and the severity of the emergency we are facing. It reflects the fact that the climate is changing as a result of human behavior, and that it has and will have dramatic effects on women, men, girls and boys and their environment.
Climate Finance refers to local, national or transnational financing—drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing—that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change.
Climate Funds Update is an independent website that provides information and data on the growing number of multilateral climate finance initiatives designed to help developing countries address the challenges of climate change.
Climate information refers to the collection and interpretation of observations of the actual weather and climate as well as simulations of climate in both past and future periods. Climate information is the collection and interpretation of weather and climate data that is credible, relevant and usable.
CIS involve the provision of climate information in a way that assists decision making by individuals and organizations. They are tools and processes that enable decision makers and user communities to assess, and prevent or prepare for, potential impactful weather and climate events.
Climate Justice is about a future in which the poorest and most marginalized people have significantly improved their wellbeing and can enjoy their human rights due to increased resilience to climate change, increased equality and a global temperature rise that is limited to 1.5°C.
Evidence-based analysis conducted to identify 1) the extent to which a human, social and/or ecological system has been or will likely be affected by climate variability and change, and 2) strategies to address these impacts.
Climate-Smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach to managing landscapes—cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries — that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change.
Community-based adaptation is a set of climate change adaptation activities developed in partnership with at-risk communities to promote local awareness of, and appropriate and sustainable solutions to, current and future climatic conditions.
The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.
The Copenhagen Accord recognizes the scientific view that an increase in global temperature below 2 degrees is required to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
The Heads of State of the East African Community (EAC) directed the EAC Secretariat to develop a Climate Change Policy and strategies to address the adverse impacts of Climate Change in the region and harness any potential opportunities posed by Climate Change in the context of the principle of sustainable development.
The overall objective of the EAC Climate Change Policy is to guide Partner States and other stakeholders on the preparation and implementation of collective measures to address Climate Change in the region while assuring sustainable social and economic development.
This Framework is prepared to provide the effective delivery of adaptation services to the most climate vulnerable areas and people of Nepal. It supports the design of new and implementation of existing Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPAs) that have already been designed and piloted. It is expected to help integrate climate adaptation and resilience aspects in local and national plans.
Ecosystem-based adaptation is a nature-based solution that harnesses biodiversity and ecosystem services to reduce vulnerability and build resilience to climate change.
The direct effects of climate change that can be observed by rising maximum and/or minimum temperatures, rising sea levels, ocean temperature, changing rainfall patterns, increase in (heavy) precipitation, glacier melting, heatwaves, cyclones, drought, etc. and that in return lead to more climate related hazards. The effects of these changes on humans and natural environment can be seen in e.g. increased hunger and poverty as a result from failed harvest due to droughts/extreme rain; Health risks as a result from heatwaves; Increased pests from change in temperature; Loss of biodiversity, as flora and fauna cannot adapt to a new climate reality; Reduction in fish from coral bleaching as a result from ocean acidification.
Exposure is “the presence of people, livelihoods, species or ecosystems, environmental functions, services, and resources, infrastructure, or economic, social, or cultural assets in places and settings that could be adversely affected”.
Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.
Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality.
Strategies applied in program planning, assessment, design, implementation and M&E to consider gender norms and to compensate for gender-based inequalities. For example, when a project conducts a gender analysis and incorporates the results into its objectives, work plan and M&E plan, it is undertaking a gender integration process.
Adaptation can be incremental (making step-changes in the way people act but maintaining the system) or transformative (serving to fundamentally change system attributes). Gender-transformative approaches create opportunities for individuals to actively challenge existing gender norms, promote positions of social and political influence for women, and address power inequalities between persons of different genders.
Goals are the specification of what an advocacy initiative should accomplish. Goals need to be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. They should clearly state what will change, who will make that change, by how much, and when. When goals are poorly articulated or ambiguous, it can be difficult to understand what the advocacy initiative is trying to achieve, to maintain focus and to evaluate efforts.
GCF is a unique global platform to respond to climate change by investing in low-emission and climate-resilient development. GCF was established by 194 governments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in developing countries, and to help vulnerable societies adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Given the urgency and seriousness of this challenge, GCF is mandated to make an ambitious contribution to the united global response to climate change.
The atmospheric gases responsible for causing global warming and climate change. The major GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N20). Less prevalent --but very powerful -- greenhouse gases are hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
Hazard is a potentially damaging physical event, phenomenon and/or human activity, which may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation.
Integrated risk management law and policy (IRM) checklist
This checklist can be used as a basis for advocacy strategies aiming to integrate Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation and Ecosystem Management and Restoration into laws, policies and their implementation on the ground.
IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. The IPCC was created to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options
The Joint Principles for Adaptation (JPA) is a statement by civil society organizations from across the world on what they consider to be a benchmark for good adaptation planning and implementation. It is a tool for ensuring that national policies and plans meet the needs and fulfil the rights of the most vulnerable people to adapt to climate change.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty that was adopted on 11 December 1997. Owing to a complex ratification process, it entered into force on 16 February 2005. Currently, there are 192 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
In short, the Kyoto Protocol operationalizes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by committing industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets.
The LDCF is enabling Least Developed Countries to prepare for a more resilient future. LDCF funding helps recipient countries address their short-, medium- and long-term resilience needs and reduce climate change vulnerability in priority sectors and ecosystems.
LDCF backing helps countries implement National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPAs) – country-driven strategies for addressing their most urgent adaptation needs. It also supports the implementation of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process, and the Least Developed Country work program under the UNFCCC.
This Framework is prepared to provide the effective delivery of adaptation services to the most climate vulnerable areas and people of Nepal. It supports the design of new and implementation of existing Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPAs) that have already been designed and piloted. It is expected to help integrate climate adaptation and resilience aspects in local and national plans.
LLA allows an approach of empowerment of the different local stakeholders through the implementation of different tools for participatory planning, consensual decision making, accountability and integration of local and scientific knowledge, as well as capacity building by prioritizing local stakeholders. Thus, it is important to understand that local stakeholders better understand their problems and the actions to prioritize in order to solve them. In this sense, locally-led adaptation allows power to be shifted to local stakeholders while they are accompanied by external actors to alleviate the burden of responsibility for adaptation, in order to catalyze effective, equitable and transparent adaptation. Locally-led adaptation, unlike other more common participatory approaches, goes beyond the involvement of local stakeholders and only occurs when they have control over the development and adaptation processes. For CARE, this approach is equivalent to the CBA.
Loss and damage is a general term used in UN climate negotiations to refer to the consequences of climate change that go beyond what people can adapt to, or when options exist but a community doesn’t have the resources to access or make use of them.
Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) practices have the purpose of applying knowledge gained from evidence and analysis to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and, ultimately, the outcomes and impact of their projects/initiatives and ensure accountability for the resources used to achieve them.
The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) is a process that was established under the Cancun Adaptation Framework (CAF). It enables Parties to formulate and implement national adaptation plans (NAPs) as a means of identifying medium- and long-term adaptation needs and developing and implementing strategies and programmes to address those needs. It is a continuous, progressive and iterative process that follows a country-driven, gender-sensitive, participatory and fully transparent approach.
NAPAs provide a process for the least-developed countries (LDCs) to identify priority activities that respond to their urgent and immediate needs with regard to adaptation to climate change - those needs for which further delay could increase vulnerability or lead to increased costs at a later stage. The rationale for NAPAs rests on the limited ability of the LDCs to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change. In the NAPA process, prominence is given to community-level input as an important source of information, recognizing that grassroots communities are the main stakeholders.
National Communication is a report that each country that is a Party to the UNFCCC must submit. These reports highlight development priorities, objectives and national circumstances, including ongoing action and needs for meeting adaptation and mitigation goals and the
objectives of the Convention. Parties are required to submit their first NC within three years of entering the Convention, and every four years thereafter.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are climate action plans to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Each Party to the Paris Agreement is required to establish an NDC and update it every five years.
Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural and modified ecosystems in ways that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, to provide both human well-being and biodiversity benefits
Net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance.
Objectives are specific and measurable targets that must be achieved in order to realize the broader goals. These objectives are concrete and medium-term and provide a clear direction for the organization and individuals in achieving the goal.
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.
The Paris Agreement is a landmark in the multilateral climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.
PESTLE stands for: Political, Economic, Social Technological, Legal and Environmental factors or trends.
It is helpful to break down the process of undertaking a context analysis into manageable chunks using a PESTLE analysis. This tool promotes a systematic understanding of the wider environment. It can also help to identify new issues and opportunities on the horizon; to create scenarios; and to develop a coherent vision.
Pilot Program for Climate Resilience is a program that supports developing countries and regions in building their adaptation and resilience to the impacts of climate change. First, the PPCR assists governments in integrating climate resilience into strategic development planning across sectors and stakeholder groups. Second, it provides concessional and grant funding to put the plans into action and pilot innovative public and private sector solutions.
Primary targets are the people who have the power to make the changes needed to achieve the advocacy objectives. They are often known as decision-makers. It is vital to know who makes the decisions so as not to waste time or resources targeting the wrong people.
Problem Trees are graphic tools that helps find solutions by mapping out the anatomy of cause and effect around an issue in a similar way to a Mind Map, but with more structure. The policy-related problem or issue is written in the centre of the flip chart and becomes the trunk of the tree. The causes and consequences of the focal problem become the roots. The question of ‘why’ an issue is a problem needs to be repeatedly asked to find the root cause.
Non-hazardous waste material that cannot be re-used or recycled and needs to be sent to energy recovery (incineration/biogas) or disposal (landfill)
Resilience
Resilience is the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.
Resilience is the capacity to deal with shocks and stresses, manage risks and transform lives and systems in response to new hazards.
Results chains are a visual tool for showing what a project is doing and why. They explain all the links in the chain from project actions to market actor changes, through to impacts on target groups, in detail, for a particular intervention. They can be used to monitor change and adapt strategy on an ongoing basis.
Risk is “the potential for adverse consequences where something of value is at stake and where the occurrence and degree of an outcome is uncertain.” Risk is a function of vulnerability, exposure and the likelihood of a hazard occurring.
Secondary targets are individuals or groups who have the potential to influence or persuade the primary target, who may be difficult to reach or persuade directly.
Secondary targets could be people to whom the primary target is accountable, advisors, local government officials, media, public opinion, personal contacts, celebrities, or academics. By persuading these secondary targets, the hope is that they can then influence the primary target to change their stance or take a desired action.
Sex refers to the different biological and physiological characteristics of females, males and intersex persons, such as chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs.
Shocks are short-term events or disruptions that have negative effects on people’s well-being, assets, livelihoods, safety or their ability to withstand future shocks.
The Special Climate Change Fund is a fund that is established under the Convention in 2001 to finance projects relating to: adaptation; technology transfer and capacity building; energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management; and economic diversification. It is managed by the GEF.
Sustainability is the practice of using natural resources responsibly, that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
SDGs are seventeen global goals, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The SDGs provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future and are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The UNFCCC is an international treaty that entered into force on 21 March 1994. Today, it has near-universal membership. The 198 countries that have ratified the Convention are called Parties to the Convention. Preventing “dangerous” human interference with the climate system is the ultimate aim of the UNFCCC.
In the context of climate change, vulnerability refers to the potential for negative effects resulting from the impacts of climate change. Vulnerability to the same risks may differ based on gender, wealth, mobility and other factors. It is influenced by adaptive capacity; the higher the adaptive capacity, the lower the vulnerability.
Weather describes short term natural events - such as fog, rain, snow, blizzards, wind and thunder storms, tropical cyclones, etc. - in a specific place and time.
