One of the characteristics of an effective NAP process is that it is gender-responsive. This means that the NAP process actively promotes gender equality, while recognizing that gender intersects with other socioeconomic factors to influence vulnerability to climate change and adaptive capacity.
A gender-responsive approach to the NAP process addresses gender differences in adaptation needs and capacities and ensures gender-equitable participation in adaptation decision making. This increases the likelihood that adaptation investments will yield equitable benefits for people of all genders and social groups, including those who are particularly vulnerable.
This toolkit, developed by the NAP Global Network in collaboration with the LEG and the Adaptation Committee, provides practical guidance on taking a gender-responsive approach to the NAP process.
Though NAP processes are led and managed by national governments, private sector actors—including both private enterprises and private financiers—need to be among the stakeholders involved in NAP processes given the significant role they play in shaping economies and livelihoods. In developing countries, micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make up 60 per cent of employment and contribute an average of 50 per cent of GDP. Without the private sector’s involvement, adaptation will not be able to take place at scale.
The private sector should be engaged throughout the NAP process—through planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. But in order to engage effectively, these actors need governments to create an enabling environment for their engagement, removing barriers (whether these are institutional, financial, regulatory, informational, or capacity barriers) and providing incentives for engaging. Partnering with business multipliers—such as chambers of commerce and business associations—can be an important way for governments to reach private sector actors.
The Network has published guidance for NAP teams on engaging the private sector in national adaptation planning.
At a strategic level, the Sendai Framework recognizes climate change as a driver of disaster risk and that addressing climate change is also an opportunity to reduce disaster risk. By helping countries to assess climate risk and increase resilience, NAP processes can help countries to achieve the goal of the Sendai Framework and make DRR more resilient to future changes in climate.
Looking at the country level, many NAP processes explicitly consider DRR—either as a stand-alone priority or a cross-cutting theme—and can therefore help countries implement the Sendai Framework. For example, one of the seven Targets in the Sendai Framework—Target E—is to “substantially increase the number of countries with national or local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020.”
Moreover, the different stages and enabling factors of the NAP process can reinforce country efforts to address the four Priorities for Action under Sendai, which are 1) understanding disaster risk (e.g., through vulnerability and risk assessments for the NAP); 2) strengthening DRR governance (e.g., through better institutional arrangements that link DRR and adaptation); 3) finance (by attracting more investments into adaptation priorities that overlap with DRR); and 4) enhanced disaster preparedness (by calling for more disaster preparedness and response measures in the NAP).