IPCC_Managing Risks of Extreme Events.pdf - Climate Access

Chapter 7Managing the Risks: International Level and Integration across ScalesBox 7-1 | Commitments on Climate Change Adaptation as Included in the UNFCCCArticle 4.1: All Parties, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities and their specific national and regionaldevelopment priorities, objectives, and circumstances, shall:(b) Formulate, implement, publish, and regularly update national and, where appropriate, regional programs containing measures tomitigate climate change by addressing anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases notcontrolled by the Montreal Protocol, and measures to facilitate adequate adaptation to climate change.(e) Cooperate in preparing for adaptation to the impacts of climate change; develop and elaborate appropriate and integrated plansfor coastal zone management, water resources, and agriculture, and for the protection and rehabilitation of areas, particularly inAfrica, affected by drought and desertification, as well as floods.(f) Take climate change considerations into account, to the extent feasible, in their relevant social, economic, and environmentalpolicies and actions, and employ appropriate methods, for example impact assessments, formulated and determined nationally,with a view to minimizing adverse effects on the economy, on public health, and on the quality of the environment, of projects ormeasures undertaken by them to mitigate or adapt to climate change.Article 4.4: The developed country Parties and other developed Parties included in Annex II shall also assist the developing countryParties that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting costs of adaptation to those adverse effects.Article 4.8: In the implementation of the commitments in this Article, the Parties shall give full consideration to what actions arenecessary under the Convention, including actions related to funding, insurance, and the transfer of technology, to meet the specificneeds and concerns of developing country Parties […].Article 4.9: The Parties shall take full account of the specific needs and special situations of the least developed countries in theiractions with regard to funding and transfer of technology.Dessai, 2003; Mace, 2005). Section 7.4.2 provides more information onthe international financing of climate change adaptation.Since 2001, a number of successive decisions have given increasingpriority to climate change adaptation under the UNFCCC. Decision1/CP.10 built on Decision 5/CP.7; it reiterated the need for support foradaptation in developing countries and started a regional consultationprocess. Decision 2/CP.11 then established the Nairobi Work Programmeon impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change, whichoriginally ran from 2006 to 2010 – a next phase is currently underconsideration, to be decided at COP17 in Durban in 2011. The objectiveof the Nairobi Work Programme is to assist all Parties, in particulardeveloping countries, (i) to improve their understanding and assessmentof impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change, and (ii) tomake informed decisions on practical adaptation actions and measuresto respond to climate change on a sound scientific, technical, andsocioeconomic basis, taking into account current and future climatechange and variability (Decision 2/CP.11). The Nairobi Work Programmeis implemented by Parties, intergovernmental and nongovernmentalorganizations, the private sector, communities, and other stakeholders.Several of the nine work areas of the Nairobi Work Programme arerelevant to DRR as well as CCA, in particular ‘climate-related risks andextreme events’ and ‘adaptation planning and practices.’With Decision 1/CP.13 (also known as the Bali Action Plan), agreed inDecember 2007, the COP launched “a comprehensive process to enablethe full, effective, and sustained implementation of the Conventionthrough long-term cooperative action – now, up to, and beyond 2012 –in order to reach an agreed outcome and adopt a decision at its fifteenthsession” in Copenhagen in December 2009 (COP15). The Bali ActionPlan gave equal priority to mitigation and adaptation, and identifiedtechnology and finance as the key mechanisms for enabling developingcountries to respond to climate change (Clémençon, 2008; Ott et al.,2008; Persson et al., 2009). It recognized the need for action to enhanceadaptation in five main areas:1) International cooperation to support urgent implementation ofadaptation actions, including through vulnerability assessments,prioritization of actions, financial needs assessments, capacitybuilding, and response strategies, and integration of adaptationactions into sectoral and national planning […]2) Risk management and risk reduction strategies, including risksharingand transfer mechanisms such as insurance3) Disaster reduction strategies and means to address loss and damageassociated with climate change impacts in developing countriesthat are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climatechange4) Economic diversification to build resilience5) Ways to strengthen the catalytic role of the Convention inencouraging multilateral bodies, the public and private sectors, andcivil society, building on synergies among activities and processes,as a means to support adaptation in a coherent and integratedmanner.407