Adaptation Gap Report 2022 raises alarm on climate finance
- November 4, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
Adaptation Gap Report 2022 raises alarm on climate finance
Subject: Environment
Context-
- The Adaptation Gap Report (AGR)- 2022 is released on 3 nov 2022.
About the Report-
- The Adaptation Gap Report (AGR) is an annual UNEP flagship report.
- The report’s primary objective is to inform about the status and trends within climate adaptation at global and regional levels.
- The AGR also provides a set of science-based options to policymakers and decision-makers to increase ambition in adapting to climate change across key climate-sensitive sectors.
Report findings-
- Global efforts in adaptation planning, financing and implementation are not enough to prepare vulnerable communities around the world to adapt to the rising risks from the impacts of climate change.
- The report found some progress on adaptation plans from national governments, but they are not backed by finance.
- A third of the 197 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have incorporated quantified and time-bound targets on adaptation. And 90 per cent of them have considered gender and disadvantaged groups.
- On the other hand, international adaptation finance flows are five-10 times lower than required and this gap continues to grow.
- Finance for adaptation increased to $29 billion in 2020 — only a four per cent increase over 2019. While the developing countries’ estimated annual adaptation needs are $160-$340 billion by 2030 and $315-$565 billion by 2050.
- The report also highlighted that the best way was to link actions on mitigation and adaptation in terms of planning, financing and implementation, which would provide co-benefits. One example of this could be nature-based solutions.
- Nature-based solutions (NBS) refer to the sustainable management and use of nature for tackling socio-environmental challenges.
- The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines NbS as actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.
The adaptation gap must be addressed in four critical ways-
- Increase financing for adaptation.
- The urgent need of a new business model for turning adaptation priorities into investable projects.
- The availability of climate risk data and information — an issue for adaptation planning in many developing countries.
- The implementation and operationalisation of early warning systems against extreme weather events and slow onset changes such as sea level rise.
- A proposal for the same would be presented by the World Meteorological Organisation at the COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, beginning November 7.
Key Points-
- Adaptation Cost:
- It includes costs of planning, preparing for, facilitating and implementing adaptation measures.
- The ever-increasing adaptation cost has also outpaced the growth in adaptation finance and that is the reason for a maintained Adaptation Finance gap.
- Adaptation Finance:
- It refers to the flow of funds to developing countries to help them tide over the damages caused by weather events from climate change.
- Adaptation Finance gap:
- It is the difference between Adaptation Cost and Adaptation Finance.
- Adaptation costs, in actual terms, is higher in developed countries but the burden of adaptation is greater for developing countries in relation to their gross domestic product.
- The developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia, which are least equipped to tackle climate change will also be the most impacted by it.
Difference between Adaptation and Mitigation-
- Adaptation means anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimise the damage they can cause, or taking advantage of opportunities that may arise.
- Mitigation means making the impacts of climate change less severe by preventing or reducing the emission ofgreenhouse gas (GHG) into the atmosphere.