UN Climate Change News, 18 August 2022 - More than 500 participants are expected to attend the (link is external) Botswana Global Adaptation Week 2022 (22-29 August) in Gaborone, Botswana. Four interrelated adaptation events will take place under the umbrella of the Global Adaptation Week. This year's event is co-hosted by the Government of Botswana and the UNFCCC.
The Botswana Global Adaptation Week is one of the major adaptation events of the year which aims to showcase and promote actions and practices to adapt to the impacts of climate change. It offers a platform to raise adaptation ambition by accelerating the formulation and implementation of countries' National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) as well as foresight thinking for resilience.
The week will feature the (link is external) NAP Expo 2022 which is organized by the UNFCCC Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG), the 42nd meeting of the LEG, as well as the UN4NAPs initiative and the (link is external) Resilience Frontiers initiative, both of which are interagency efforts coordinated by the UNFCCC secretariat.
The NAP Expo will feature keynote presentations and technical sessions around this year's theme on "Transformations to adapt". The Expo will run over the course of five days and will tackle 11 threads which will cover the angle of transforming actions and practices to adapt to the changing climate. These include:
- Envisioning plausible futures
- Addressing multiple dimensions of climate risks
- Making use of geospatial data, big data and AI to transform adaptation planning and implementation
- Systems approach to facilitate synergies and consideration of tradeoffs
- Transforming urban design to address flooding
- Transforming food and agricultural systems
- Preserving and protecting biodiversity and natural heritage
- Active learning from recent climate change shocks
- Effectively and fully engaging all stakeholders: youth, local communities, indigenous peoples
- Measuring adaptation to effectively direct actions
- Support and accelerating technical and financial support for NAPs.
At the UN4NAPs Forum, representatives from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) will share and discuss their technical assistance needs related to formulating and implementing NAPs that can be addressed by one or several of the more than 45 active partner organizations of the UN4NAPs partnership initiative.
Through this network of partners from across the UN and beyond, UN4NAPs can identify opportunities for technical assistance and convene expertise from a set of relevant agencies, tailored to the needs of countries. The three sessions scattered over the week will be focusing on land degradation, desertification and drought; sea level rise, coastal erosion and storm surges; and floods and heat stress.
In addition, country representatives will have the chance to engage with the UNFCCC and UN4NAPs partner organizations throughout the week to discuss challenges related to NAP formulation and implementation and to learn about opportunities for technical assistance.
At (link is external) Resilience Frontiers, a diverse range of thought leaders and organizations will unpack the (link is external) eight Resilience Frontiers pathways towards a better world and discuss the visions and values underpinning them. The event also hopes to identify first-mover actions that will accelerate the journey. The RF eight pathways are:
- Transforming humanity's relationship with nature
- Lifelong learning for environmental stewardship
- Ensuring universal equitable coverage of, and open-access to (big) data and information
- Managing water and other natural resources equitably and inclusively
- Managing transboundary issues equitably
- Applying a holistic, ecosystem-centered approach to optimize future health and well-being
- Regenerative food production
- Developing transformative financial instruments
The 42nd meeting of the LEG the will discuss the implementation of its work programme which is rooted in its vision to support the LDCs on adaptation and set a new deadline for all 46 LDCs to have formulated their NAP by the end of 2022 / early 2023.
The LEG will focus its support on: ensuring progress in NAP formulation and implementation; addressing both NAP objectives and linking it to the global goal on adaptation; increasing coherence between different instruments under the Convention and the Paris Agreement; and accessing funding from the Green Climate Fund for NAPs. It will also finish the draft rules of procedure, as mandated by COP 26 for adoption by COP 27 and CMA 4.
The weeklong event is taking place at the Gaborone International Conference Center.
