Planning for adaptation is progressing, although nature-based solutions are lagging. As temperatures rise and climate change impacts intensify, nations must urgently step up action to adapt to the new climate reality or face serious costs, damages and losses, the 2020 edition of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Adaptation Gap Report finds.
The Adaptation Gap Report 2020 found that 72 per cent of countries have adopted at least one national-level adaptation planning instrument, while a further 9 per cent are developing one. Most developing countries are preparing National Adaptation Plans.
More than half of countries have added nature-based solutions to their Nationally Determined Contributions – as climate pledges under the Paris Agreement are known. However, most of these describe broad goals and less than a third include measurable targets.
On a promising note, at least half of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, which countries develop under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, emphasize nature-based solutions in reducing the vulnerability of species and ecosystems to climate change and other pressures.
Nature Based Solutions in Action:
Restoring forests for food security in Comoros
The climate on Anjouan island in the Comoros has been changing steadily in the past decades. Temperatures have risen as trees are cut down for timber and firewood; droughts have got longer; rains shorter and more erratic. Soil erosion means that some of the foods that the inhabitants depended on have disappeared completely, like taro, a root vegetable that used to grow in the forest. In 2018, UNEP, the Global Environment Facility and the Government of Comoros set out to restore 3,500 hectares of forests and watersheds, with the aim to boost agriculture and food security. The project will plant 350,000 trees per year over the course of four years bringing the total of trees planted to 1.4 million in total across Comoros’ three islands, while training national bodies and local communities on reforestation. Read more
