This blog post was originally published on NDC Partnership website.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) set out countries’ ambitions for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions to achieve our commitment to the Paris Agreement.
Though not mandatory, most countries have also chosen to include information on how they plan to adapt to the impacts of climate change. According to GIZ’s Tool for Assessing Adaptation in the NDCs, as of November 2018, 131 of the 175 countries that submitted NDCs included adaptation information.
Reflecting this trend in NDCs, adaptation actions also figure prominently in most NDC Partnership Plans. These Plans—which are living documents that change over time and are updated as donors and implementing partners provide support for priority actions—provide useful information on priority adaptation activities, the development partners that provide support for these activities, and the gaps in support.
NDC Partnership Plans are three-year results-based plans that set out priority actions to guide the implementation of mitigation, adaptation and crosscutting initiatives to enable the achievement of NDCs. The plans are complementary to National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes, which are domestic planning processes that allow countries to identify, address and review their medium- and long-term adaptation needs, and advance implementation of adaptation measures. NDCs and NAPs are complementary processes that represent important elements of countries’ responses to climate change in line with the Paris Agreement.
In a report I prepared for the NAP Global Network, Adaptation Actions in NDC Partnership Plans: Opportunities for Alignment with NAP processes, I reviewed NDC Partnership Plans (as of April 18, 2019) to identify adaptation actions, support for the actions and gaps in support, with the aim of identifying opportunities to align action on adaptation in NDCs and NAP processes. In reviewing the NDC Partnership Plans with an adaptation lens, I found that there are many potential areas of support for development partners to address gaps in adaptation support in the NDC Partnership Plans and advance progress towards the achievement of developing countries’ adaptation ambitions as they have set them out in their NDCs.
Many adaptation activities in the NDC Partnership Plans address elements of the NAP process, which includes medium- and long-term adaptation planning, integrating adaptation in planning and budgeting, implementation of adaptation actions, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of adaptation. The NDC Partnership Plans also include actions that are essential enabling factors for effective NAP processes, including capacity building, financing, institutional arrangements, and information sharing.
The table below sets out six priority activities related to the NAP process, and indicates those countries that have identified that they currently have no support or have gaps in development partner support. Other areas of potential support that feature in many NDC Partnership Plans include capacity building, development of sector or subnational adaptation plans, and providing support to mainstream adaptation in sector plans and subnational plans. Many countries have also prioritized establishing or improving early warning systems and climate proofing of infrastructure.
| Priority adaptation actions in NDC Partnership Plans linked to the NAP Process | Countries identifying adaptation action in NDC Partnership Plans (countries indicating no support or a gap in support in bold) |
|---|---|
| Adaptation monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems | Colombia, Guatemala, Kenya, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Uganda, Vietnam |
| Climate risk and vulnerability assessment | Colombia, Dominican Republic, Jordan, Mali, Marshall Islands, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Uganda, Vietnam |
| Proposal development | Colombia, Dominican Republic, Jordan, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Uganda |
| Resource mobilization strategies / Adaptation investment plans | Guatemala, Kenya, Honduras, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Vietnam |
| Updating adaptation NDCs | Guatemala, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Uganda, Vietnam |
| NAP development | Honduras, Mali, Marshall Islands, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda, Vietnam |
Addressing these gaps could also support these countries’ NAP processes and enable them to make progress towards the adaptation ambitions set out in their NDCs. The NDC Partnership Plans also offer opportunities to increase NDC and NAP alignment by linking the NDC pledges under the Paris Agreement with the NAP processes that elaborate on how adaptation will be planned, implemented, and monitored at the country level.
The NDC Partnership, working with partners such as the NAP Global Network, is well-positioned to assist countries with NDC and NAP alignment, ensuring that NDCs are informed by NAP processes as many countries prepare to enhance their NDCs by 2020.
Any opinions stated in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the NAP Global Network, its funders, or Network participants.