The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2020 finds that while nations have advanced in planning, huge gaps remain in finance for developing countries and bringing adaptation projects to the stage where they bring real protection against climate impacts such as droughts, floods and sea-level rise.
Public and private finance for adaptation must be stepped up urgently, along with faster implementation. Nature-based solutions – locally appropriate actions that address societal challenges, such as climate change, and provide human well-being and biodiversity benefits by protecting, sustainably managing and restoring natural or modified ecosystems – must also become a priority
Adaptation Gap Report (AGR) is a UNEP flagship publication that informs the negotiators of the UNFCCC Member States, and the broader UNFCCC constituency, of the status and trends with regards to progress towards climate adaptation at global and regional levels. The AGR provides a set of science-based options to policy- and decision-makers to increase ambition in adapting to climate change across key climate-sensitive sectors.
To date, UNEP has produced four global AGRs and one intermediary update report:
- The first report in 2014 provided a preliminary approach to assessing adaptation gaps and initial assessments of adaptation gaps in three important areas: finance, technology and knowledge.
- The intermediary update report prepared in time for the COP in Paris in 2015.
- The second report in 2016 provided a more in-depth assessment of the adaptation finance gap and its projected development up to 2050, focusing on global estimates of the costs of adaptation as well as the financing available for adaptation.
- The third report in 2017, launched in time for COP23 in Bonn, Germany, focused on one of the key questions arising in the wake of the global goal on adaptation specified in the Paris Agreement: What are the ways forward to assess progress towards this global goal?
- The fourth report in 2018, launched during COP24 in Katowice, Poland, was structured in two parts: the first part examined the gaps that exist in several areas that are central to taking stock and assessing progress on adaptation. The second part of the report focused on the global adaptation gap in health.
The next edition of AGR to be launched at COP26 in Glasgow will deliver through a two-part structure. Part One will focus on periodically tracking sustained key metrics/reference points that are replicable over time thus continuously providing its target audience with updated information on planning, implementation and financing with regards to progress towards climate adaptation. Part Two, in association with the ‘2020 Super Year for Nature’, will have an in-depth focus on a range of nature-based solutions for climate adaptation.
For more details and to download the report, please go to the UNEP AGR 2020 landing page by clicking here.
