Adaptation Fund at COP23

The Adaptation Fund will have an active presence at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, which focuses on implementing the Paris Agreement.

The conference, which includes the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, will be held in Bonn, Germany from November 6-17, 2017 and be presided over by the Government of Fiji.

Among activities at the COP 23 venue, Bonn’s World Conference Center, the Adaptation Fund is planning a multimedia exhibit, a side event on implementing environmental and social principles in adaptation projects, and other appearances to showcase its concrete work to help vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt and build resilience to climate change.

The Adaptation Fund also commemorates the 10th anniversary of the launching of its operations with a special anniversary event in the historic town hall in the Bonn market plaza. A comprehensive print publication highlighting its achievements in pioneering “Innovation, Action and Learning” will be released to coincide with the event.

The Adaptation Fund has set US$ 80 million as its resource mobilization target for 2017, with COP 23 serving as a key flashpoint toward reaching that goal (last year the Fund surpassed its fundraising goals for 2016 during COP 22). In addition, the Fund hopes to make further progress toward formally serving the Paris Agreement. At COP 22 in Morocco in 2016, Parties advanced the issue significantly when they decided that the Fund ‘should’ serve the Agreement pending subsequent decisions to be taken by the time of COP24 in 2018 that address governance, institutional arrangements, safeguards and operating modalities. Preparatory work by the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) is well underway toward making that happen.

The UN Climate Change Conference agenda also includes the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 13), part 4 of the first session of the APA, and part 2 of the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1-2). The 47th sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies for Scientific and Technological Advice, and Implementation (SBSTA 47 and SBI 47) are on the agenda, as well. SBI 47 will conduct the third review of the Adaptation Fund, based on a technical paper prepared by the UNFCCC Secretariat in collaboration with the Adaptation Fund Board Secretariat, and make a recommendation to CMP 13 on it. CMP 13 will also consider a report by the Adaptation Fund Board on work undertaken during the previous year.

COP 23 negotiators will discuss preparations for implementing the Paris Agreement, technology development and transfer, loss and damage from climate change impacts, capacity building, and finance matters, among other issues. CMP 13 is expected to discuss capacity building under the Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation, and the Adaptation Fund. APA discussion themes will include adaptation communications, transparency and the ‘global stocktake’ – a key element of the Paris Agreement which calls for all countries to reassess every five years what has been achieved and what is needed to further strengthen climate actions toward achieving the Agreement’s emission reduction and adaptation goals.