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 Outcomes of the 17th Meeting of the Adaptation Committee

The Adaptation Committee Held Its 17th Meeting from 24-27 March 2020.
                                                                                                                                                    Photo Credit: Jeffrey-Blum/Unsplash
The Adaptation Committee held its 17th meeting (AC17) between 24-27 March 2020.  The Covid–19 global pandemic warranted that  the AC held its first ever virtual meeting, thereby showing its determination to continue delivering timely and high-quality products in the face of the pandemic.

Yousef Nassef, the director of the UNFCCC Adaptation Division, in his concluding remarks, said "the Covid-19 challenge is giving us the opportunity to rethink our perception of a lot of things including vulnerability, early action, rapid response and what timescales mean when confronted with a crisis. I’m hopeful that the AC will itself be an engine for the world to understand these lessons even after the crisis ends"

 

The Adaptation Committee elected Cecilia da Silva Bernardo from Angola and Alessandra Sgobbi from Italy as the new Co-Chairs. Pending global developments in the Covid-19 pandemic, the AC agreed 25 - 28 August as tentative dates for its 18th meeting

Other key issues discussed at the virtual meeting were:

  • How to most effectively recognize the adaptation efforts of developing countries through the lens of its synthesis paper on How developing countries are addressing hazards.
  • Considering approaches to reviewing the overall progress made in achieving the global goal on adaptation of enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience, and reducing vulnerability to climate change.
  • Reviewing an initial draft outline for supplementary guidance for voluntary use by governments as they prepare their adaptation communication and discussing how to ensure that this guidance does not create an additional burden on developing countries.
  • Finalizing the development—in partnership with the Least  Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG), partner organizations of the Nairobi work programme, and other stakeholders—of an inventory of methodologies for assessing adaptation needs related to action, finance, capacity-building, technological support and other areas. Members brainstormed ways to ensure the inventory is user-friendly, accessible, and tailored to the needs of the practitioners who will use it on the ground.  
  • Launching a discussion on the synthesis report the AC will prepare as an input into the global stocktake - a periodical assessment of progress  towards achieving the purpose of the Paris Agreement and its long-term goals.
  • Members also discussed the AC’s draft technical paper on data for adaptation and reflected on how the paper can highlight opportunities for international cooperation to improve data availability, use and quality

 

This article was adapted from one originally published in the UNFCCC Newsroom

 

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