1. Background

Outcomes under Global Goal on Adaptation and first Global Stocktake at COP 28 recognize that climate change impacts are transboundary in nature requiring consideration and knowledge-sharing, climate-informed transboundary management and cooperation on global adaptation solutions. The UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience was established at COP 28 to catalyse and strengthen regional and international cooperation on the scaling up of adaptation action and support among Parties, international organizations and non-governmental organizations. Consistent with the outcomes at COP 28, the UNFCCC Nairobi work programme (NWP) has been engaging with Parties, over 450 NWP partners, and thematic expert groups and UNFCCC constituted bodies to enhance country and region-specific actions, including transboundary, through provision and application of knowledge with an objective to achieve transformative adaptation and resilience (read more here). The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) works to support capacity building for governments, institutions, and communities on ecosystem-based adaptation, helps strengthen adaptation planning and policy development, and promotes learning and knowledge exchange across regions to enhance adaptation and climate resilience (read more here).

The Lima Adaptation Knowledge Initiative (LAKI), a joint initiative of the UNFCCC and UNEP’s Global Adaptation Network (GAN), an action pledge under the NWP, addresses knowledge barriers that impede the implementation and scaling up of adaptation action in subregions by working closely with the subregional coordination entities and partners. Following the LAKI Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) phase I conducted in 2016, as part of the Phase II, the LAKI partners, the UNFCCC secretariat, UNEP and ICIMOD, the subregional coordination entity for HKH, have organized two workshops, one held virtually in June 2023 and in-person at the 8th APAN Forum in August 2023, to engage with regional actors to review progress and discuss actions to close the persistent knowledge gaps in HKH. This meeting intends to build on these engagements to identify and foster collaborative actions moving forward to close 16 identified priority knowledge gaps for the targeted knowledge users.

3. Agenda for the 2-day expert meeting