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Global Network News
Climate Ambition Summit 2023 – The Climate Ambition Summit was held in September to showcase “first mover and doer” leaders who’ve developed credible climate actions, policies and plans – and not just pledges. For adaptation, new partnerships were formed as part of the Secretary-General’s Adaptation Pipeline Accelerator, while the Green Climate Fund committed up to $1 billion for the Early Warnings For All initiative. The Summit was preceded by the 2023 SDG Summit, marking a new phase of action on achieving the SDGs.
The 9th EbA Knowledge Day – On 21 September, the Global Adaptation Network (UNEP) and the Friends of EbA Network (IUCN) organized the 9th EbA Knowledge Day, kicking off with a high-level panel to discuss the importance of accelerating ecosystem-based adaptation to achieve the SDGs. The day covered 4 discussion themes: 1) The Global Stocktake; 2) The Global Goal on Adaptation; 3) Loss & Damage; and 4) National Adaptation Plans and NDCs. Watch a recording of the event here.
UN agencies call for climate change policies to consider displaced persons – In August, UNEP, IOM, UNITAR and the NDC Partnership published a policy brief on how nations can integrate displaced populations into their national climate change policies and plans. More than 100 million people have now been forced to flee their homes and around 75 per cent of displaced populations are hosted by low- or middle‑income countries. The brief was published under the NDC Action project.
Saudi Arabia to host World Environment Day 2024 - The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host World Environment Day 2024 with a focus on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience. Also announced in September, the Republic of Korea will host World Environment Day 2025 with a focus on ending plastic pollution globally. Over the past five decades, the Day has grown to be one of the largest global platforms for environmental outreach. Read the full press release here.
Speech: The urgency of transformative climate adaptation action – At the 8th Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum, a speech from UNEP’s Executive Director Inger Andersen highlights four key takeaways from the Forum on how to ramp up adaptation action, from harnessing traditional knowledge to reforming food systems. “The Paris Agreement was not just a piece of paper to be signed and waved in the air. It was a promise," said Andersen.
Financing strategies for adaptation in developing countries – Financing strategies for adaptation are increasingly being prepared by developing countries. There is limited guidance, though, on how to ensure these strategies achieve their end goal. A new report identifies 7 guiding principles that could inform developing country governments’ efforts to prepare such strategies. These principles are developed based on a review of existing financing strategies and inputs from experts whom are engaged in their development.
Nature-based Solutions to Build Climate Resilience in Informal Areas – A new strategy paper identifies: (a) what are some of the interconnected opportunities and challenges of working on nature-based solutions (NbS) to build climate resilience in informal areas; (b) what are some of the special considerations that may need to be acknowledged when planning or implementing NbS for adaptation in informal areas; and finally (c) what are some of the best practices that can be identified to date?
Ministerial Consultations on Loss & Damage – In September, the Ministerial Consultations on Funding Arrangements for Responding to Loss and Damage took place in New York, focusing on how to establish the new loss and damage fund and looking ahead to possible Cop28 outcomes. The event saw an intervention from UNEP’s Executive Director Inger Andersen, emphasizing the importance of simplicity and expediency for the new fund: “Countries need to have access to this with a degree of predictability.” Watch the full meeting here.
Adaptation Futures 2023 - From October 2 to 6, 2023, over 1,500 members of the climate change adaptation community from 80+ countries are gathering in Montreal and online to share their cutting-edge knowledge and contribute to the global momentum on adaptation. With more than 180 sessions, the 7th edition of the international conference Adaptation Futures is covering several key areas of adaptation research, planning and action.
News From The Regions
Africa
Climate justice front and centre at Africa Climate Week 2023 - Climate finance, loss and damage and climate justice were the big themes emerging from Africa Climate Week and the Africa Climate Summit 2023 in September. Heads of States, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, business leaders and green campaigners came to pin down climate solutions, including the adoption of the Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action. Throughout the week, there were repeated calls to step up adaptation finance on the continent.
Project Factsheet: Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Tanzania 2017-2024 – The United Republic of Tanzania, located in Eastern Africa, sits between 6 landlocked countries. Frequent droughts have resulted in massive crop failure and livestock losses in many parts of the country. A project is now aiming to increase the resilience to climate change in rural communities of Tanzania through nature-based solutions, strengthening ecosystem resilience and diversifying livelihoods.
Project Factsheet: Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Uganda 2020-2024 - Natural ecosystems contribute considerably to livelihoods and the economy in Uganda. Forests contribute ~6% of the country’s GDP, while natural resources from wetlands provide $432 per year on average to each Ugandan household. A project is aiming to increase the climate resilience of communities in Uganda through ecosystem-based adaptation, drawing on healthy ecosystems as part of an overall adaptation strategy.
EBAFOSA’s Climate Action Digest – The Ecosystem-based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly's (EBAFOSA) latest Climate Action Digest focuses on utilizing blended finance to de-risk market-driven finance to close funding gaps. This edition also looks at initiatives that will propel Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in Africa. EBAFOSA constitutes the Global Adaptation Network's regional network for the Africa region, and you can learn more about the initiative on their website here.
UN-Habitat and UNEP join hands to help Mozambique strengthen climate resilience – A climate adaptation project in Mozambique is building climate resilience in the Greater Maputo Area of Mozambique. A new component of the project was launched during an induction workshop on the 22 September. Just weeks before, UNEP published a fascinating story about how a ‘salt-loving tree’ is helping to protect Mozambique from climate change.
News from the Regions
Asia Pacific
The 8th APAN Forum - The 8th Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum was held in Incheon, Republic of Korea, under the theme 'Resilience for All: Enabling Transformative Implementation'. You can read more about the Forum and its outcomes here. The Global Adaptation Network co-led the stream on ecosystem resilience and facilitated several events under the Korea Global Adaptation Week, including a workshop for the Lima Adaptation Knowledge Initiative on the Hindu-Kush Himalaya region.
Nepal’s race against the monsoon – In Nepal, hundreds of landslides occur every year, a phenomenon growing as fluctuating temperatures and rainfall – both consequences of climate change – destabilize the earth. A UNEP story looks at how the government is using nature-based solutions to fight back. Communities were trained to protect the forests uphill from their farms. In a prime example of ecological engineering, the trees’ interlocking root system provides a net that prevents the soil from sliding down the slope during heavy rain.
An early warning system for disasters takes shape in Timor-Leste – Timor-Leste has a rich ecosystem of marine biodiversity and mangroves. But this island nation in South East Asia is also one of the most vulnerable to extreme weather and slow-onset climatic events, including dangerous sea level rise. UNEP is helping the country build a cutting-edge early warning system for a range of climate-related disasters. Financed by the Green Climate Fund, it is expected to be operational around 2026.
News from the Regions
Latin America & the Caribbean
Women and nature for resilient cities in Latin America and the Caribbean - The impacts of climate change are not of equal scope for everyone. Women carry a high and uneven burden due to gender imbalances. However, women and girls have unique knowledge and skills to be agents of change in leading the way towards climate-resilient development. Through a new blog, discover the stories of women who are advancing climate adaptation action in synergy with gender equality goals in the region (also available in Spanish).
Road to Cop28 Webinar Series – In the run up to Cop28, a series of webinars are being held in the Latin America and Caribbean region to seek practical and ambitious solutions to climate change. The latest webinar of the series, held on 26 September, focused on Human Mobility and the Climate Crisis (also available in Spanish). For more information about climate adaptation in the region, including videos, publications, events and news, check out the CityAdapt Newsletter (Spanish).
Sowing resilience: how Colombia's indigenous peoples adapt to climate change – This story from UNDP showcases how Colombia's indigenous Wayúu people are adapting to climate change using their traditional knowledge and cultivating the 'guajiro' bean. The initiative is part of a FAO-UNDP project known as Scaling up Climate Ambition on Land Use and Agriculture (SCALA). Learn more about the project here here.
Transitional Committee on loss and damage makes progress in Dominican Republic - The Transitional Committee on the operationalization of funding arrangements for loss and damage held its third meeting from 29 August to 1 September in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The meeting resulted in significant progress towards fulfilling the mandate given to the Committee at COP27 in Egypt last year. Members engaged on concrete recommendations and submitted a variety of detailed views.
News from the Regions
Europe
Scaling up ecosystem-based adaptation in Albania’s oasis for migratory birds – As the climate changes, Albania’s Kune-Vaini Lagoon, an ecological corridor for around 200 species of birds, is under threat. But a project prioritized through the National Adaptation Plan process to protect the lagoon is showing how working with ecosystems can help communities prepare and cope with the impacts of climate change across the country. Read the full multimedia story from the NAP Global Network here.
Preparing Europe for a changing climate – An editorial in the European Environment Agency examines how prepared the continent is for extreme weather events and their impacts. In Europe, over the last 42 years, the “economic losses and damages caused by extreme weather and climate conditions amounted to a total of at least 560 billion euros.” Around the same time, a news report by DW News covers how the EU Parliament are debating the appropriate solutions to respond.
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