Background

National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are an essential tool for developing countries to understand their climate vulnerabilities, identify adaptation priorities, and communicate their financial needs to international stakeholders. The outcome of the first global stocktake, decision 1/CMA.5, at COP28 called on all parties to have their national adaptation plans (NAPs) in place by 2025 and to make progress in implementing them by 2030. This has provided substantial impetus to accelerate the formulation and implementation of NAPs.

However, at present only 60 countries have submitted their NAPs to the UNFCCC secretariat, which consequently constrains implementation. Thus, there is a pressing need to rapidly increase support and improve collaboration to accelerate the formulation and implementation of NAPs as the 2025 deadline approaches.

Countries in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and SA (South Asia)  are among the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change and face serious challenges related to climate induced disasters, drought, and sea level rise which pose a major threat to water availability, food security, and livelihoods.  So far, only 9 out of the 30 countries in the region have submitted their NAPs to the UNFCCC secretariat. Five of these submissions have come from the South Asia region. Accelerating NAP formulation and implementation is a key opportunity to strengthen the resilience of this region which houses a large percentage of the world’s most climate vulnerable communities.

Accelerating NAP formulation and implementation in the MENA and SA region will require providing improved and better coordinated support to countries. The successful experiences of formulating NAPs for South Asian countries can provide important insights for similar countries in the MENA region. Greater collaboration between different development partners working in these regions is also necessary to provide more targeted support for formulating and implementing NAPs.

In this context, the RCC MENA and SA is organizing a regional dialogue among country officials and development partners to assess the landscape of support available for NAPs, facilitate the sharing of best practices, and identify areas of collaboration to accelerate finance and technical support needed to accelerate the formulation, submission, and implementation of NAPs.

Objectives

• Provide a platform for sharing of knowledge and best practices from countries that have been successful in formulation and submission of their NAPs.
• Provide a platform to identify concrete actions and areas for further support for all the countries in the region to have their NAPs in place by 2025. Engage development partners supporting countries on NAP formulation and implementation in MENA and SA on ways to adjust support to better assist countries to meet the 2025 deadline.
• Identify opportunities for increased cooperation and coordination across different stakeholders to support formulation and implementation of NAPs.