At the opening plenary of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) held on 6 June 2022 during the Bonn Climate Change Conference 2022, Ambassador Mmasekgoa Masire- Mwamba of the Government of Botswana announced the offer of her government to host the 2022 NAP Expo. The seventh global NAP Expo will take place from 22 to 26 August 2022at the Gaborone International Convention Center.
This year’s overarching theme is “transformations to adapt”. A series of sessions will be conducted covering transformations, among others, in the framing of national adaptation plans; climate risk analysis; climate risk management; implementing adaptation actions; tracking and measuring the impact and outcomes of adaptation; and finance, technology and capacity-building support for adaptation.
Risk assessments and management are at the core of climate change adaptation action. However, in many least developed countries (LDCs) the understanding of risks is constrained by the lack of climate data and the capacity to interpret and apply data. At NAP Expo 2022, organizations will present emerging approaches in climate risk analysis and management. The LDC Expert Group (LEG) will also share the main lessons learned from LDCs in responding to extreme hazards and impacts.
Drawing from the experience of the national adaptation programme of actions and NAPs over 20 years of adaptation action, certain systems are emerging as essential for each country to help focus adaptation. Therefore, a wide range of organization will organize sessions on integrating agriculture, water security, health, nature-based solutions, and infrastructure resilience into NAPs.
As one of the identified key issues LDCs face when formulating and implementing NAPs, the NAP Expo will feature interactions and exchanges between the countries and the Operating entities of the UN Climate Change Financial Mechanism on access to climate finance.
Sessions will also focus on promoting access to and deployment of climate technologies to support LDCs and other developing countries in the formulation and implementation of NAPs.
As the global stocktake has started to consider how to measure adaptation progress, monitoring and evaluation and learning in adaptation has grown prominently in the international agenda. The NAP Expo 2022 will include sessions on reporting and communicating progress towards achieving the NAP objectives of reducing vulnerability and facilitating integration of adaptation into development and thereby adaptation goals.
An important component of the NAP Expo is the NAP Country Platform – a segment where countries that have recently submitted a NAP are recognized for their adaptation efforts. A high level segment graced by the NAP Champions and keynote talks on innovative and emerging topics will also be featured.
The NAP Expo offers a platform for countries and relevant organizations to share experiences, best practices, and lessons learned in relation to the process to formulate and implement NAPs, cross-cutting theme sessions will be organized to address issues such as indigenous expertise for transformative climate action; private sector engagement in NAPs; gender capacity building; loss and damage; vertical integration; and youth participation in climate change adaptation.
Interested organizations and entities can also avail of the opportunity to showcase their story of transformations to adapt via various channels such as posters, booths and exhibitions. Expressions of interest can be sent to NAPExpo@unfccc.int by 30 June 2022.
