Cancun Adaptation Framework

The Bali Action Plan, adopted at COP 13 in Bali, December 2007, identified adaptation as one of the key building blocks required for a strengthened future response to climate change to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action, now, up to and beyond 2012. At the Cancun Climate Change Conference in December 2010, Parties established the Cancun Adaptation Framework (CAF) with the objective of enhancing action on adaptation, including through international cooperation and coherent consideration of matters relating to adaptation under the Convention.

At the Durban Climate Change Conference in November/ December 2011, Parties advanced the implementation of the CAF by agreeing on:

• Modalities, procedures and composition of the Adaptation Committee
• Activities to be undertaken under the work programme on loss and damage
• Modalities and guidelines for the national adaptation plans   

Nairobi work programme on impacts vulnerability and adaptation to climate change
  -  Understanding vulnerability, fostering adaptation

The objective of the Nairobi work programme is to help all countries improve their understanding and assessment of the impacts of climate change and to make informed decisions on practical adaptation actions and measures.  

Implementing adaptation

Decisions on implementing adaptation include Decision 5/CP.7, 2001, implementation of Article 4.8 and 4.9 of the Convention and Decision 1/CP.10, 2004, the Buenos Aires programme of work on adaptation and response measures, to assist in implementing Article 4 of the Convention.  Responding to a request from Parties, an interface on adaptation funding was developed to assist the implementation of Decision 1/CP.10 and provide information on options available for funding adaptation worldwide.

National Adaptation Programmes of Action

The National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) provide an important way to prioritise urgent and immediate adaptation needs for Least Developed Countries (Article 4.9).  The NAPAs draw on existing information and community-level input.  A database of all NAPA priority adaptation projects sorted by country and sector is available online at the UNFCCC Least Developed Countries (LDC) portal.

Local coping strategies database

Community-based adaptation can greatly benefit from knowledge of local coping strategies. The secretariat has developed a local coping strategies database to facilitate the transfer of long-standing coping strategies and knowledge from communities which have adapted to specific hazards or climatic conditions, to communities which may just be starting to experience such conditions as a result of climate change.

Support for Adaptation

Developing countries require international assistance to support adaptation (Articles 4.4, 4.8 and 4.9). This includes funding, technology transfer and capacity building.

Funding for adaptation is provided through the financial mechanism of the Convention. Current funding opportunities include:

• the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund, including support for vulnerability and adaptation assessments as part of national communications;
• the GEF managed Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) under the Convention;
• the GEF managed Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) under the Convention;
• The Adaptation Fund (AF) under the Kyoto Protocol and managed by the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB).

Parties in Cancun established the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as another operating entity of the financial mechanism of the Convention under Article 11 besides the GEF and the AFB. Parties further decided that a significant share of new multilateral funding for adaptation should flow through the GCF. In Durban, Parties made the GCF operational by agreeing on its governing instrument.