From NAP Commitments to Action
Background
As climate impacts intensify, countries need adaptation measures that reduce vulnerability while delivering broader environmental, social and economic benefits. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can contribute to this effort by protecting, restoring and sustainably managing ecosystems to strengthen resilience, support human well-being and conserve biodiversity.
National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) provide a key framework through which countries identify their medium- and long-term adaptation needs and develop strategies and programmes to address them. Integrating NbS into NAP processes can support biodiversity conservation, food and water security, public health, livelihoods and economic resilience alongside climate adaptation objectives.
Across Africa, countries are increasingly incorporating ecosystem-based approaches into their adaptation planning. Measures such as watershed protection, wetland restoration, reforestation, sustainable agriculture and ecosystem conservation feature in a growing number of NAPs. However, translating these commitments into implementation and measurable adaptation outcomes remains challenging. Limited technical capacity and financing, insufficient institutional coordination, and gaps in monitoring and evaluation continue to constrain progress.
This webinar brought together policymakers, practitioners, researchers and development partners to examine how NbS are being integrated, implemented and monitored through NAP processes. It provided an opportunity to share country experiences, explore practical solutions and identify ways to strengthen the financing and institutional arrangements needed to move from commitments to action.
Objectives
The webinar, organized by the UN Climate Change Regional Collaboration Centres for East and Southern Africa (RCC EASA) and West and Central Africa (RCC WACA), in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), aimed to:
Present recent evidence on the integration of NbS into NAP processes in selected African countries;
Share country experiences and practical examples of incorporating ecosystem considerations into adaptation planning, implementation and monitoring;
Identify enabling conditions, good practices and barriers affecting the implementation of NbS;
Explore strategies to strengthen financing, monitoring and institutional coordination; and
Promote peer learning and knowledge exchange among adaptation policymakers, practitioners and development partners.
Participants
The webinar was intended for:
Government representatives working on environment, climate change, agriculture, water, finance, planning and other sectors involved in NAP development and implementation;
International organizations, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations working on ecosystem-based adaptation, climate resilience and natural resource management;
Researchers and academics specializing in climate adaptation, biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and environmental policy;
Donor agencies, climate funds and multilateral development banks supporting adaptation and conservation initiatives; and
Indigenous Peoples and local communities engaged in community-based adaptation, landscape restoration and natural resource governance.
Outcomes and key takeaways
The joint event brought together 120 participants from across Africa, including representatives from national governments, regional and international organizations, development and technical partners, climate adaptation practitioners, and organizations working on Nature-based Solutions and National Adaptation Plans. The event also featured country-level perspectives from Liberia and South Sudan, alongside contributions from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)/NAP Global Network and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The webinar provided a platform to discuss progress in integrating Nature-based Solutions (NbS) into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) across Africa, with a particular focus on the transition from planning to implementation, investment, and measurable resilience outcomes.
Key Takeaways
Moving from Planning to Implementation: The question is no longer whether NbS belongs in NAPs, but how plans can be effectively delivered on the ground. NbS and ecosystem-based adaptation are already well established within NAPs across Africa. The priority now is to translate existing plans into investable implementation pipelines and tangible resilience outcomes.
Strengthening the Investment Pipeline: Countries need stronger capacity to translate NAP priorities into concrete, well-designed, and investment-ready projects. This will be essential for bridging the gap between national planning and implementation.
Mobilizing Finance for Implementation: Financing remains a major constraint to scaling up NbS. Greater attention is needed to accessing available financing mechanisms, strengthening project preparation, and combining complementary sources of finance.
Linking NbS Clearly to Climate Risk: NbS interventions need to be designed around clearly identified climate hazards, vulnerabilities, and adaptation outcomes. Restoration or conservation activities alone do not automatically constitute adaptation; their contribution to reducing vulnerability needs to be clearly demonstrated.
Strengthening Institutional Coordination: Effective implementation will require stronger coordination across sectors, ministries, and levels of government, as well as better alignment between adaptation, biodiversity, and development planning processes. The analysis highlighted opportunities to strengthen linkages between NAPs and National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans.
Putting People at the Centre: Local communities, Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth should be treated not only as beneficiaries but also as knowledge holders and partners in designing, implementing, and sustaining NbS interventions.
Measuring Resilience Outcomes: Monitoring and evaluation should move beyond tracking activities and outputs towards demonstrating whether investments are reducing vulnerability, strengthening adaptive capacity, and improving resilience for people and ecosystems.
Scaling Up Requires Continued Collaboration: Sustained collaboration, peer learning, technical support, and knowledge exchange will be important to help countries strengthen NbS integration throughout NAP formulation and implementation.
Overall, the webinar demonstrated that significant progress has been made in recognizing and incorporating NbS within national adaptation planning. The key challenge now is to close the gap between planning and implementation by strengthening financing, project pipelines, institutional coordination, local ownership, and the measurement of resilience outcomes.
