📅 11 July 2023
Virtual
Climate change is driving adverse impacts in Africa, which has the highest vulnerability to climatic hazards. The most recent IPCC report (2023) finds that increasing weather and climate extreme events have exposed millions of people to acute food insecurity and reduced water security in Africa resulting from cycles of droughts, water scarcity, floods, coastal erosion, heatwaves and loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
As a result, several communities in Africa are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change: smallholder farmers, coastal communities, indigenous people, women and children, and the urban poor, amongst many others. Adaptation to climate change is a moral priority in Africa to address cascading risks to vulnerable communities, economies, and ecosystems. Setting ambitious adaptation targets, indicators, and goals on adaptation can scale up solutions such as drought-resistant crops, solar dryers, water conservation, flood management, coastal protection, heatwave warning systems, agroforestry, and ecosystem-based approaches.
The Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), as part of the Paris Agreement, aims to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience, and reduce vulnerability to climate change. The goal is to promote adaptation actions that are country-driven, gender-responsive, participatory, and fully integrated into national development plans. The GGA also recognizes the need to support developing countries, especially the most vulnerable, in adapting to climate change.
This webinar is the third in a series of regional webinars organized by the Global Adaptation Network of the United Nations Environment Programme. It aims to enhance knowledge and understanding of the GGA, offering participants the opportunity to gain insights into the Glasgow-Sharm el-Sheikh work program on the GGA, discuss regional priorities for adaptation, and explore the opportunities presented by the GGA. Additionally, the participants will have the chance to hear perspectives from civil society, youth groups, governments, development banks, and the private sector on local, national, and regional resources, frameworks, and indicators, which will help better incorporate African perspectives into the development of a global adaptation framework.
