TS.D Contribution of Adaptation to Solutions
Adaptation progress and gaps
TS.D.1.7 Closing the adaptation gap requires moving beyond short-term planning to develop long-term, concerted pathways and enabling conditions for ongoing adaptation to ensure timely and effective implementation (high confidence). Inclusive, equitable and just adaptation pathways are critical for climate resilient development. Such pathways require consideration of SDGs, gender and Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge and practices. The success of adaptation will depend on our understanding of which adaptation options are feasible and effective in their local context (high confidence).
Water and food sectors
TS.D.5.7 Integrated multi-sectoral strategies that address social inequities (e.g., gender, ethnicity) and social protection of low- income groups will increase the effectiveness of adaptation responses for water and food security (high confidence). Multiple interacting factors help to ensure that adaptive communities have water and food security, including addressing poverty, social inequities, violent conflict, provision of social services such as water and sanitation, social safety nets and vital ecosystem services. Differentiated responses based on water and food security level and climate risk increase effectiveness, such as social protection programmes for extreme events, medium-term responses such as local food procurement for school meals, community seed banks or well construction to build adaptive capacity (medium confidence). Longer- term responses include strengthening ecosystem services, local and regional markets, enhanced capacity and reducing systemic gender, land tenure and other social inequalities as part of a rights-based approach (medium confidence). In the urban context, policies that account for social inclusion in governance and rights to green urban spaces will enhance urban agriculture’s potential for food and water security and other ecosystem services.
Cities, settlements and infrastructure
TS.D.6 Cities and settlements are crucial for delivering urgent climate action. The concentration and interconnection of people, infrastructure and assets within and across cities and into rural areas drives the creation of risks and solutions at a global scale TS (high confidence). Concentrated inequalities in risk are broken through prioritising affordable housing and upgrading of informal and precarious settlements, paying special attention to including marginalised groups and women (high confidence). Such actions are most effective when deployed across grey/ physical infrastructure, nature-based solutions and social policy and between local and city-wide or national actions (medium confidence). City and local governments remain key actors facilitating climate change adaptation in cities and settlements. Community-based action is also critical. Multi-level governance opens an inclusive and accountable adaptation space across scales of decision-making, improving development processes through an understanding of social and economic systems, planning, experimentation and embedded solutions, including processes of social learning.
TS.D.6.6 Many urban adaptation plans focus narrowly on climate risk reduction and specific climate-associated risks, missing opportunities to advance co-benefits with climate mitigation and sustainable development (high confidence). This narrow approach limits opportunity for urban and infrastructure adaptation to tackle the root causes of inequality and exclusion, especially among marginalised groups, including women. Urban adaptation measures have many opportunities to contribute to climate resilient development pathways (medium confidence). They can enhance social capital, livelihoods, human and ecological health and contribute to low-carbon futures. Urban planning, social policy and nature- based solutions bring great flexibility with co-benefits for climate mitigation and sustainable development. Participatory planning for infrastructure provision and risk management in informal, precarious and underserved neighbourhoods, the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge, and communication and efforts to build local leadership especially among women and youth are examples of inclusive approaches with co-benefits for equity. Targeted development planning across the range of innovation and investment in social policy, nature-based solutions and grey/physical infrastructure can significantly increase the adaptive capacity of urban settlements and cities and their contribution to climate resilient development (high confidence).
