The secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

The Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), joint winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, highlight the impacts of climate change in their 2007 reports and stress the importance of adaptation to these impacts. Adaptation entails actions that moderate harm, or exploit benefits, of climate change. Although work on adaptation is underway at different levels, these efforts must be intensified. The UNFCCC provides for a variety of support mechanisms to the implementation of adaptation. This includes funding for developing countries, cooperation and capacity building in the areas of methodologies for assessment, technologies for adaptation, research and systematic observation.

The Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, adopted in 2005, is one of the most important recent achievements to enhance technical capacity for and cooperation on adaptation. This agreement demonstrates recognition of the need to exploit increasing scientific knowledge and practical experience of adaptation and respond to countries’ adaptation needs. Activities relating to impacts, vulnerability and adaptation have already been undertaken by Parties and organisations at all scales and should be recognised and shared by the international process and used to catalyse further actions.

Modelled estimations of change in water resources in China under climate change scenario for period up to 2079. Source: National communications of the Peoples republic of China

Cooperation on adaptation

The programme is unique in that it aims to foster structured and comprehensive cooperation among Parties to the Convention (191 countries) on a broad spectrum of issues relating to adaptation. It does not deal with resources, however it does provide information on the more efficient use of available financial resources targeted at adaptation. Its objective is to assist all Parties, in particular developing countries (including the least developed countries and small island States) to improve their understanding and assessment of impacts, vulnerability and adaptation; and to make informed decisions on practical adaptation actions and measures to respond to climate change on a sound scientific, technical and socio-economic basis, taking into account current and future climate change and variability.

The programme is structured around nine areas of work: data, and observations, methods and tools, climate modelling, climate-related risks and extreme events, socio-economic information, adaptation planning and practices, economic diversification, research, and technologies. Each of these areas is important to increasing capacity to successfully adapt. One of the most important features of the work programme is that it engages a wide range of organisations, institutions, experts and communities in its implementation. As of October 2007, eighty-seven organisations worldwide – from large intergovernmental organisations to local small nongovernmental organisations – offered to take part through a focal point with which the secretariat can coordinate. Organisations, through the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), have provided information on activities and made proposals for their involvement in the programme’s implementation. These organisations include the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), IPCC, International Strategy Disaster Reduction (ISDR), Organisation for Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),World Bank,World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorolgical Organization (WMO).

Catalysing action

The approach the UNFCCC secretariat has adopted to implement the programme, under the guidance of the SBSTA, focuses on catalysing actions on adaptation at all levels and ensuring products and deliverables target stakeholders at all levels and across all sectors including beyond the environment context. Activities mandated by the Parties to the UNFCCC include workshops bringing a broad range of stakeholders together to identify further actions towards the goals of the work programme, publishing documents, and producing a web-based interface on adaptation. The Nairobi Work Programme is also catalysing new and innovative action at different levels by Parties and organisations. The main avenue for this is the production of the Call for Action sheets, which reflect priority needs of Parties and organisations identified through questionnaires, workshops and submissions. In this way, the secretariat serves as a bridge with the wider adaptation community so the needs identified in the many workshops and expert meetings reach those in a position to address them, and that, in turn, adaptation initiatives respond to stakeholders’ needs. The secretariat also invites organisations to pledge to do something about a Call for Action and share the outcomes of their work in support of the objectives of the work programme. The examples of action include expanding the services of the Data Distribution Centre (DDC) and the Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impacts and Climate Analysis by the IPCC, or strengthening livelihood security among poor communities that are vulnerable to climate related risks through a number of awareness raising and knowledge sharing activities by non-governmental organisation Practical Action.

Implementation of the work programme is progressing. Parties to the UNFCC will undertake a review of the initial results in June 2008. New activities will then be identified taking into account the findings of the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC and other recently published scientific information, as well as relevant activities from international and regional institutions. Over the next few years a package of adaptation activities under the UNFCCC should emerge in response to the need to enhance adaptation on the ground, and based on diverse work on adaptation under the UNFCCC, to which the Nairobi work programme will constitute a valuable contribution.

W: http://unfccc.int