The Conference of the Parties,
1. Welcomes the report of the Adaptation Committee;
2. Also welcomes the progress made by the Adaptation Committee in the implementation of its three-year workplan, including:
(a) Promoting coherence in adaptation under the Convention, in particular in collaboration with the Least Developed Countries Expert Group, the Technology Executive Committee and the Standing Committee on Finance and in the context of the Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change;
(b) Engaging relevant institutions, organizations, frameworks, networks and centres;
(c) Conducting a joint meeting with the Nairobi work programme on available tools for the use of indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices for adaptation, needs of local and indigenous communities, and the application of gender-sensitive approaches and tools for adaptation;
(d) Conducting a special in-session event on promoting synergy and strengthening engagement with national, regional and international organizations, centres and networks;
(e) Conducting an in-session meeting of the Adaptation Committee organized in collaboration with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II;
(f) Publishing its 2014 thematic report on institutional arrangements for national adaptation planning and implementation;
3. Notes with appreciation the continued work of the Adaptation Committee on providing technical support and guidance to the Parties on adaptation action, including through the work carried out by the task force on national adaptation plans of the Committee;
4. Requests Parties, operating entities of the Financial Mechanism and other relevant entities working on adaptation to consider the recommendations contained in chapter V of the report of the Adaptation Committee, as included in the annex;
5. Reiterates its encouragement made in decision 2/CP.17, paragraph 103, for Parties to nominate experts to the Adaptation Committee with a diversity of experience and knowledge relevant to adaptation to climate change, while also taking into account the need to achieve gender balance in accordance with decision 36/CP.7;
6. Welcomes the initiation of consideration by the Adaptation Committee of its next workplan, starting in 2016.
Annex
Recommendations for the Conference of the Parties
1. The Adaptation Committee (AC) agreed to include the following recommendations in its report for consideration by the Conference of the Parties (COP) at its twentieth session.
2. The AC recommends that the COP invite Parties, operating entities of the Financial Mechanism and relevant entities working on adaptation to take into account the following recommendations, which are based on the outcomes of the meeting of the task force on national adaptation plans (NAPs) referred to in paragraphs 38 and 39 of the report of the AC referred to in paragraph 1 above:
(a) Recognizing the importance of raising awareness and buy-in for the NAP process by all stakeholders, in order to:
- (i) Generate interest in, demand for and leadership of the NAP process at the national level;
- (ii) Make available support for the NAP process better known;
(b) Improving coordination, collaboration and coherence among:
- (i) Bilateral and multilateral agencies and institutions, including the operating entities of the Financial Mechanism;
- (ii) Various national ministries;
- (iii) Parties and regions, with a view to:
- a. Enhancing the accessibility of NAP support;
- b. Further understanding effective pathways to achieving the objectives of the NAP process, on the basis of experience;
- c. Fostering coherence in the provision of support, including by better matching needs with support, involving more financial institutions in the NAP process and helping countries to prepare for accessing funding, including from the Green Climate Fund (GCF);
(c) Enhancing learning as stakeholders increasingly engage in the NAP process, particularly around aspects such as the role of institutional arrangements and monitoring and evaluation.
3. In supporting the monitoring and evaluation of adaptation, the AC recommends that the COP invite Parties, operating entities of the Financial Mechanism and relevant entities working on adaptation to take into account the following recommendations:
(a) Monitoring and evaluation frameworks need to be appropriate, relevant to needs and tailored to country circumstances. A common set of global indicators is not useful, owing to the context-specific nature of adaptation;
(b) National-level assessments can play a different role in measuring adaptive capacity from subnational or project-based assessments. National-level assessments could, for example, measure the degree of coordination and integration of adaptation in national priorities;
(c) A positive learning environment, which encourages formal and informal learning, including peer-to-peer learning, and which encourages learning from negative as well as positive experiences, is important;
(d) Planning and allocation of resources, both technical and financial, are key for effective monitoring and evaluation systems.
4. In the context of the monitoring and evaluation of adaptation, the AC also recommends that the COP invite the Board of the GCF, with respect to its Results Management Framework, to consider:
(a) Keeping indicators simple;
(b) Designing indicators that are qualitative as well as quantitative;
(c) Designing indicators in such a way as to capture the progress that countries are able to make in integrating adaptation into their development and sectoral planning, policies and actions;
(d) Giving countries sufficient flexibility to define their indicators in line with their national and local planning, strategies and priorities.
5. Furthermore, the AC agreed to forward the following recommendations resulting from the workshop on best practices and needs of local and indigenous communities referred to in paragraph 45 of its report referred to in paragraph 1 above for consideration by the COP. The COP may wish to:
(a) Invite Parties to underline the importance of indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices, in a manner commensurate with modern science, for the effective planning and implementation of adaptation, including by encouraging the integration of indigenous, traditional and local knowledge into the NAP process;
(b) Encourage the Adaptation Fund, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the GCF to enhance their consideration of local, indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices and their integration into adaptation planning and practices, as well as procedures for monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
6. Regarding the operating entities of the Financial Mechanism, the AC recommends the following actions for consideration by the COP:
(a) Inviting the Board of the GCF to consider the significant work undertaken under the Cancun Adaptation Framework and on the NAP process as it continues to provide the governance of the Fund;
(b) Inviting the Board of the GCF to engage with institutions that have started initiatives on countries’ readiness to access GCF funding and exploring how more countries can benefit from such initiatives;
(c) Inviting the GEF, in supporting the NAP process and when implementing its new programming strategy on adaptation for the Least Developed Countries Fund and the Special Climate Change Fund for the period 2014–2018, to consider the findings arising from the meeting of the NAP task force referred to in paragraph 84 and the initial conclusions of the AC on the monitoring and evaluation of adaptation referred to in paragraph 85 of the report of the AC referred to in paragraph 1 above.
