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Discussion on how to treat �?adaptation’ in new agreement
Bonn, 2 May (Dale Wen)- Parties continued discussions in roundtables under the Ad hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) in Bonn. In the morning of May 1, the second round table under workstream 1 convened to discuss the topic of adaptation. The Mr. Harald Dovland (Norway) chaired the session and said that based on submissions, there is broad agreement to include adaptation in 2015 agreement; so Parties should focus on how it should be done; what it is needed from a 2015 agreement to enhance, complement and add value to actions on adaptation, to bring about a significant set of adaptation deliverables which should be part of the 2015 package. He said there is need to discuss what should be in the 2015 legal agreement and what could be in decisions as part of the agreement.
Nauru,
on behalf of
AOSIS
, said that the new agreement should encompass both mitigation and adaptation, and a balance is needed. Adequate means of implementation for adaptation should be channeled into existing institutions. It cited a 2009 World Bank study saying adaptation would cost developing countries more than USD 75-100 billion per year. As attracting private funding for adaptation has proven to be difficult, providing grant based sources for adaptation finance should be a priority. Closing mitigation and ambition gap is extremely important. Mitigation and adaptation are linked: the more we mitigate, the less we have to adapt. Without sufficient mitigation, the need of adaptation may overwhelm their capacity. New agreement should ensure we are all properly equipped.
India
is a key building block of new agreement. The existing mechanisms including the Adaptation Committee and the evolving loss and damage mechanism must continue to implement the Cancun Adaptation Framework. The actions of developed country Parties must be clearly defined in the 2015 agreement, towards building adaptive capacities of climate resilience in developing countries, to provide financial resources and access to technology in a measurable, reportable and verifiable (MRV) manner. It proposed a workshop on adaptation in the June session as it was not aware of the milestones in the adaptation work, and stressed the need to build on Article 10 of the Kyoto Protocol. It also referred to an Indian study on climate change impacts in four key sectors covering agriculture, water, natural ecosystems and biodiversity and health which has projected decrease in rainfall and drought, increasing cyclones, negative impacts on livestock etc. There is an enormous burden of loss and damage in developing countries, said India.
Australia
said the UNFCCC has achieved a great deal since 2007 on the adaptation architecture, which needs to continue beyond 2020. It is important to look at the value add in the new deal. Ambitious effective mitigation is part of the adaptation strategy. Without mitigation, adaptation responses will become more challenging. Therefore universal mitigation is crucial and is core of the new agreement. Mainstreaming climate consideration into national planning is important. There is no need for new extensive negotiations in the ADP; reports from the subsidiary bodies would be important. The time allocation where work is needed and where action is not occurring.
Gambia
, on behalf of
LDCs
, said that LDCs are most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, droughts, floods and other extreme weather conditions are making it difficult to achieve poverty eradication. Lessons learned from national adaptation programmes of action (NAPA) on implementation and other adaptation-related processes is important. Only 25% of the funding required for NAPAs implementation is available. Long term finance for adaptation needs to be secured, and it should be new
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and additional. Capacity of national institutions needs to be strengthened, similar to the Nairobi Framework (NF). Implementation means need to be effective and need to learn from lessons of on-going work, including from the work of Adaptation Committee on coherence.
Swaziland
, on behalf of
Africa Group
, said adaptation is a key issue for Africa. A 2015 deal will not be accepted if adaptation support is not at the centre of the agreement. Adaptation must be in context of temperature rise that does not exceed 1.5 degrees within the end of the century. It proposed a technical paper through Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to address the adaptation needs in different temperature scenarios of 1.5, 3.5 and 6 degree C; to map adaptation cost curves in developing countries in 2020, 2030 and 2050 on the basis of different temperature scenarios. The new deal should be a fair multilateral rule-based regime, with fair share of atmospheric space and recognition of historical responsibility and allow for equitable access to sustainable development;
Peru
, on behalf of
Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC),
said the new agreement should address adaptation as a core issue as important as mitigation. The Cancun Adaptation Framework should be the base on which the new deal should build. The Adaptation Committee should continue to provide coherence and move forward on implementation. The new agreement must move on funding including on sources for the funds.
Nepal
said that adaptation beyond 1.5 degree C is a palliative care situation where the patient is kept until they pass away. A 1.5 degree C pathway by 2020 is needed; otherwise the adaptation requirements will exceed the LDC’s capacity to cope. It wanted the ambition gap to be closed. The
European Union
said transformation is needed in the coming decades to integrate low carbon development and resilience. The new agreement is to facilitate that transformation. The temperature rise should be limited to 2 degree C. It is important to draw heavily from the work of subsidiary bodies and the Adaptation Committee. The ongoing work must inform a coherent approach, where mitigation and adaptation work together to support those most vulnerable.
Norway
said that Cancun Framework has carefully crafted a balance and any effort to enhance adaptation must build on this framework and must avoid building a parallel structure. It agreed that the means of implementation for adaptation must be strengthened for the most vulnerable to climate change.
Japan
said that Parties should take into account existing mechanism, draw lessons from them and ask what is the value add for adaptation in the 2015 deal.
Kenya
said that stronger mitigation would actually reduce the need for adaptation. However, given the level of mitigation action now and no forthcoming ambition, more adaptation action is needed. Mechanisms for adaptation need to be strengthened and their mandates need to be reviewed.
China
said that not many concrete actions have been taken on adaptation. It pointed out that in this week's roundtable, there is only one slot for adaptation while two for mitigation, and it hoped the imbalance will be corrected in the future. Adaptation is an important part of the Convention and the Durban Platform must strengthen the implementation. Most important is to mainstream adaptation in the overall climate strategies. Developing countries most vulnerable to climate change need technology, finance and capacity building from developed countries. The 2015 agreement needs to strengthen supporting mechanism particularly to LDCs, SIDs, African countries, etc. There is need for an �?adaptation needs assessment’ in the 2015 agreement. The 2015 deal is supposed to enhance action and not to invent new structure. Financial support needs to be strengthened; the Green Climate Fund has not started and funds are scarce in the Adaptation Fund.
Indonesia
said greater action will be needed to slow down increase in global temperature. As a big island nation, it faces big challenges of adaptation. Most developing countries have invested a lot to adapt to climate change; yet such efforts are not taken into contribution to climate action.
Switzerland
said the 2015 deal must enable countries to foster resilience. Adaptation needs to be mainstreamed, and to foster engagement of private actors to enable support to be provided to those who need support.
South Africa
said that the new instrument is needed to realize the full scope of the ultimate objective of Convention. We are not able to stabilize GHG concentrations so far; so we need more adaptation. Adaptation and mitigation are both sides of the same
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coin. Adaptation is a global responsibility. Developing countries are bearing disproportionate burdens which affect their rights to sustainable development. Africa currently faces a 5 degree C temperature rise. Work on global level must support the transition to a climate resilient society. The discussion on equitable access to sustainable development must go beyond mitigation to include adaptation. Ambition is both for adaptation and mitigation, and it is an issue of life and death. There cannot be a separation between adaptation and means of implementation.
Jamaica
cited a recent study saying the Caribbean efforts to achieve the MDGs are threatened due to climate change; losses stand between 1% and 6% of GDP; total loss is estimated to be 10.7 billion USD by 2020; 46 billion USD by 2100, corresponding to 5% and 22% of GDP.
Kyrgyzstan
spoke on behalf of mountainous regions. It listed negative impacts in their region: glacial melt; impact on mountain ecosystem; landslides, mudslides, floods; change of hydrological regime of the rivers; etc. Development plans must take into account this alarming trend; adaptation is a priority and closely linked to sustainable development. Future policy should use an ecosystem approach.
Timor Leste
said that Parties should not forget loss and damage. It is important that the new agreement cover loss and damage, which goes beyond adaptation. If there is not enough mitigation, loss and damage will need more. Financial support is needed for the implementation of NAPAs by LDCs. So far lack of financial commitment is hampering NAPA implementation of the most vulnerable countries.
Marshall Islands
said that tangible and substantive measures are needed to spur actual actions at national level. Parties agreed to impact assessments, but it has not been fully developed.
Uganda
said that over the last 20 years, LDCs have developed institutional structure like NAPAs. It is time to act; otherwise they will all be lost.
Singapore
agreed with Norway that Parties should not build parallel structure. Parties should avoid entrenching a disconnect between adaptation and mitigation. Ambition includes adaptation. So in any post 2020 review process, mitigation should not be discussed in a vacuum. Any periodic review should have strong adaptation component. The existing framework should feed into the process. As Parties design 2015 agreement, it is important to ensure institutional connection between mitigation and adaptation ambition.
Mexico
said that prevention through mitigation is a must but the reality is that we already have to adapt. The adaptation needs will become more before mitigation can deliver results. Adaptation must be a core element, based on the Cancun Framework;
Saudi Arabia
linked adaptation to Article 4.4 of the Convention. Recent extreme weather events show that more is needed to be done on adaptation. A comprehensive framework is needed, including economic resilience and economic diversification; access to finance, etc. The means of implementation is important.
Venezuel
a, on behalf of
ALBA
group said developing country NAPAs should be supported. Adequate, predictable and sustained funding should be provided; technology and capacity building are required as well. It highlighted that in the pre-2020 timeframe, so far there is no roadmap to ensure finance despite that the goal of 100 billion $ annually by 2020 was agreed in Cancun. Mechanisms to address loss and damage have to be agreed as decided in Doha. Dovland in his closing remarks said that all Parties agreed to include adaptation in the 2015 deal and there is convergence to use existing institutions, while improving and strengthening them. It is important to mainstream adaptation and build necessary linkages at national level. Means of implementation and support are important for many Parties. The Chair also noted the proposal for a workshop and technical paper.