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From Negotiations to Action on the Ground – Promoting Coherence on Adaptation Across the UNFCCC
Presented by the Netherlands and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), a side event on 22 November 2013 at the UNFCCC COP-19 in Warsaw, moderated by Karin Lexén, SIWI, provided an informal platform to explore how increased coherence on adaptation can be achieved and how cooperation between Parties and stakeholders can be strengthened to support enhanced action on adaptation at all levels.
Wilma Mansveld, State Secretary of Infrastructure and the Environment, the Netherlands, stressed that water management constitutes a cross-cutting issue and the most crucial challenge in adaptation. She noted that case studies reflect how adaptation measures taken at local level relate to the global level.
Shyla Raghav, Conservation International (CI), said National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) allow countries to share lessons, as well as technical information and guidance. She underscored the challenge of integrating emerging issues and linking adaptation and development at a broader scale.
Kathleen Dominique, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), addressed knowledge production and dissemination, pointing to human resources on the ground that can support activities under the UNFCCC.
Thinley Namgyel, Climate Change Division, Bhutan, addressed the historic path since COP 7 that led to NAPs, stressing they constitute a catalyst to support bringing together all relevant stakeholders.
Drawing from the Colombian experience, Pablo Vieira, Vice-Minister, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Colombia, presented three adaptation projects, namely the Integrated National Adaptation Plan (INAP), a regional comprehensive plan on climate change (PRICC) and INAP 2, underlying that the pathway to go beyond mitigation goes through NAPs.
Than Thuc, Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment, Viet Nam, addressed inter alia: National Target Programs to Respond to Climate Change (NTP-RCC); the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); REDD+ programmes; a green growth strategy; NAMAs; and the NAP in Viet Nam.
Following the presentation of the case studies, Rodrigo Suárez, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Colombia, Christoph Feldkötter, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Germany, Shereen D'Souza, Department of State, USA, and Kyekyeku Yaw Oppong-Boadi, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana, formed a panel that addressed questions on the links between adaptation and mitigation, the contribution of the private sector and the role of local communities.
Suárez stressed the importance of indigenous knowledge, calling for a bottom-up approach, while Feldkötter underlined that NAPs are a good way to bring all stakeholders together and identify entry points in the system. D'Souza underscored the need for a constant dialogue to ensure that the reality of practitioners are reflected in the policies and Oppong-Boadi reflected on knowledge transformation, stressing that mitigation actions may lower adaptation costs. Sonja Koeppel, UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), summarized the discussion.
COP-19 (UNFCCC website)
COP-19 (Polish website)