Representatives from twenty-six countries in the Latin America and Caribbean countries attended the regional workshop on national adaptation plans (NAPs), held in San Jose, Costa Rica, from 4 to 7 September, 2017. The workshop is part of five regional training workshops conducted by the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) this year to support the countries in advancing NAPs.
The workshop led the participants through major considerations in formulating and implement NAPs. This included how to design effective national processes that are fully aligned with national development planning, the Sustainable Development Goals, Sendai Framework for Disaster Rick Reduction and other relevant frameworks and goals. It allowed the participants and organizations to share in-depth examples on adaptation solutions in the region on areas such as crop production, livestock, health, and early warning systems. It also provided an opportunity for the participants to hear directly from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on how to access funding from the GCF for the formulation of NAPs.
Most importantly, the workshop allowed the participants to share their country road maps, progress made and experiences in the formulation and implementation of NAPs. The countries are actively engaged in various multidisciplinary work to formulate their NAPs. A few countries have completed formulating their NAPs and will submit these soon to the UNFCCC, once they have completed peer-review cycles in the respective countries. This clearly demonstrated the richness of adaptation activities and expertize in the region.
Various organizations attending the event also provided information on available support, and on how can countries access such support. The organizations also shared information on available technical resources that the countries can use on their work on NAPs. These organizations included the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Green Climate Fund (GCF), International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Oxford Policy Management (OPM), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
On the final day of the workshop, participants were taken on a study tour to livestock farms under an Adaptation Fund project run by Fundecooperacion. The project is focusing on sustainable livestock practices and dairy production by smallholder farmers. The project is contributing to reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience of the farmers to climate change.
At the closing event, the Vice Minister of Environment, Ms. Patricia Madrigal Cordero, highlighted Costa Rica’s policy on climate change adaptation, and the ongoing process on NAPs.
The workshop was organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Least Developed Countries Expert Group in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (UNDP J-CCCP) and the NAP Global Network. It was hosted the Ministry of Environment and Energy of the Government of Costa Rica.
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More details:
Workshop website: http://napexpo.org/workshops/lac/
More information about NAPs available at: http://unfccc.int/nap
Twitter: @NAP_Central; #NAPWorkshopLAC
More information on the J-CCCP is available at: http://www.adaptation-undp.org/projects/japan-caribbean-climate-change-partnership
