Background and scope

The Durban Forum on capacity-building was established in 2011 under the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) to further enhance the monitoring and review of the effectiveness of capacity-building under the Convention, Decision 2/CP.17, para. 144).  It is an in-session discussion platform for Parties, representatives of the constituted bodies under the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, and relevant experts and practitioners to, on an annual basis and in the context of specific thematic areas, share experience and exchange ideas, best practices and lessons learned in relation to implementing capacity-building activities.

COP 24 requested the SBI to thematically align meetings of the Durban Forum with the annual focus area of the Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB), Decision 15/CP.24, para. 6. Thus, the outcomes of the 12^th Durban Forum are expected to feed directly into relevant activities of the PCCB as per its workplan for 2021–202. The 2023 focus area of the PCCB is Capacity-building support for adaptation, with a focus on addressing gaps and needs in formulating and implementing national adaptation plans (NAPs).

Aligned with the 2023 PCCB focus area, the 12^th Durban Forum on capacity-building will be held under the theme “Opportunities and challenges for enhancing capacities for formulating and implementing NAPs”.

Established in 2010 under the UNFCCC, the process to formulate and implement NAPs enables countries to identify medium- and long-term adaptation needs, and to develop and implement programmes to address those needs. The formulation and implementation of NAPs provides a clear indication of the goals and aspirations of countries making it feasible to assess adaptation outcomes.

The formulation and implementation of NAPs remains challenging for many developing and least developed countries due to capacity gaps and needs in various areas and at different levels, UNFCCC-NAP2021-Progress-report. These persisting gaps and needs are hampering the building of adaptive capacity and resilience and the coherent integration of adaptation into national, sectoral and sub-national policies and programmes, especially development strategies, plans and budgets in developing countries.

The objective of the 12^th Durban Forum on capacity-building was to facilitate the sharing of relevant experience, good practice and lessons learned from capacity-building actions aimed at enhancing individual, institutional and systemic capacities for formulating and implementing NAPs.

More specifically, the forum aimed to explore and shed light on building or enhancing capacities to:

• Enhance access to financial resources for NAP processes, including at local level;
• Develop implementation strategies for NAPs with a view to increasing the impact of NAPs; 
• Promote alignment between adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies and approaches in the context of NAPs, including to enhance the harmonization and effectiveness of policies and investments.

The topics ‘gender equality integration and social inclusion’ and ‘monitoring, evaluation and learning’ were intended to be mainstreamed across the discussions to the extent possible.

The above topics were selected drawing on a synthesis of submissions by Parties and non-Party stakeholders in response to a PCCB call for submissions on capacity-building for NAPs that was issued from January to February 2023 in the context of the PCCB’s 2023 focus area work.

The exploration of the above topics was complimented by discussions on selected other topics prioritized by the audience: The forum’s participants had the opportunity to shape the event to suit their own needs, by voting on the themes of the group discussions taking place in the second part of the forum.

Programme outline