Google Translate
Integrated approach to climate adaptation works best, says UNDP
Body:
AAP: Press Release
Progress of Africa Adaptation Programme showcased at Bonn side event
Bonn – “There is a consensus that gender is a critical element in promoting climate change adaptation,” said Charles McNeill, Programme Advisor with UNDP. “Women are not only vulnerable to climate risks, but also critical players as decision-makers and managers of natural resources.”
Mr. McNeill made the comments while chairing a discussion on UNDP’s Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) convened 1 June as a side event at the UNFCCC meeting in Bonn.
The AAP, a flagship programme of UNDP with funding from Japan, is helping 20 countries in Africa develop their capability to design and implement holistic climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction programmes that are aligned with their national development priorities.
Climate change is a cross-cutting issue, affecting a multitude of sectors and activities, including agriculture, water, health, tourism, land use, ecosystems management, disaster risk reduction and gender, among others, and requiring cross-sectoral approaches to adaptation. UNDP convened this side event to help promote the integration of climate adaptation with disaster risk reduction and gender.
The AAP strategy provides technical support to integrate gender perspectives and to ensure that the overall AAP strategic approach in all the 20 African countries addresses the needs of poor women and men equitably.
It is widely recognized that there are differentiated impacts of climate change and that the poor will be hit hardest. Sixty percent of the world’s poorest one billion people are women and girls. Not only are women vulnerable to climate risks, they play a pivotal role in managing the environment. Women meet 90 per cent of household water and fuel needs in Africa. In arid areas they can spend up to 8 hours a day in search of water.
At the event, Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin from Ghana made a presentation on the adaptation-gender nexus, underlining the importance of ensuring gender dimensions are factored into AAP implementation, including participatory processes, gender disaggregated data, gender indicators and specific initiatives targeting women. UNDP’s key message is that gender must be an integral element of all national adaptation strategic frameworks, and not an after-thought.
In addition to country-level activities, the programme has established a regional technical support team to coordinate technical assistance to country projects. Based in Dakar, Senegal, the team is led by Ian Rector, Programme Manager of the AAP.
Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin Charles “It is a long road but I feel we are now starting to make pretty good progress,” said Mr. Rector. Mr. Rector described the AAP as helping African countries in three ways: building their adaptive capacity, promoting early evidence-based solutions, and laying the foundation for long-term investments for adaptation. “In just over one year since the launch of AAP, fifteen countries have completed their national project design and inception planning activities, or will soon, and several have begun implementation,” he said.
AAP has developed a five-tier strategy aimed at ensuring that countries have access to a comprehensive suite of technical assistance programmes. Central to this strategy is the Cross Practice initiative that will see all of UNDP’s key practice teams coming together to deliver a range of fully integrated services based on identified country needs and priorities. This is a critical element of the overall AAP strategy as nearly all participating countries will require substantial technical assistance during the immediate start-up phase and beyond, until sufficient capacity has been developed.
AAP is also incorporating disaster risk-reduction as a key cross-cutting issue.
“Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation are two sides of the same coin,” says Charles McNeill. “Bringing these two focus areas together is a win-win option.”
“Assessing and managing risks and vulnerability are central to both fields, and there is much to be gained by approaching these two concepts in tandem,” he said. “Colleagues working in climate change adaptation can benefit from the experiences of disaster risk reduction experts. Meanwhile, disaster risk reduction efforts need to consider the impact climate change will have on ecosystems, human society, and infrastructure.”
The Africa Adaptation Programme was launched in December 2008 under the “Japan-UNDP Joint Framework for Building Partnership to Address Climate Change in Africa” with funding of $92 million from the government of Japan. The Programme is an integral part of the Yokohama Action Plan of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
In his statement on behalf of the Government of Japan, Akira Yamada, Deputy Director-General International Cooperation Bureau in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said his government continues to be committed to supporting mitigation and adaptation in developing countries to contribute to the realization of the compatibility between environment and economy, as well as the transformation to a low carbon society.
“Japan hopes our support will help African countries overcome their vulnerability to climate change and promote their active engagement towards developing an effective post-2012 framework on climate change, and in this regard we view the AAP as an important means by which this assistance is delivered,” he said.
For more information on the Africa Adaptation Programme, please contact Mihoko.Kumamoto@undp.org in New York or Ian Rector ianr@unops.org in Dakar, or visit www.undp-adaptation.org/africaprogramme/.
From: AAP Press Release: Progress of Africa Adaptation Programme showcased at Bonn side event, 21 June 2010.
