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COP23, hosted by Fiji at the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, saw the involvement of Southern Voices partners from across the Global South.
With arrivals from Nepal; Malawi; Vietnam; Nicaragua; Sri Lanka and regional facilitators from across Africa, Asia and Latin America, lessons on promoting pro-poor adaptation and progress at the COP negotiations were high on the agenda.
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Fiji’s leadership, as a nation facing severe climate change effects shared by so many throughout 2017, also underlined the importance of vulnerable countries in adaptation advocacy. Fittingly, six SV-Adapt partners gained direct involvement with their governments’ respective delegations during the negotiations.
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The right brief at the right time
As the commitments on the Paris Agreement have taken hold, SVA’s adaptation communication policy brief (seen left being handed to Nicaragua's negotiator by ANACC's Bernis Cunningham) complemented the international community's discussions on how to report progress in preparation for the global stock-take.
Specifically, it calls for information on multi-stakeholder engagement, pro-poor adaptation, policy examples and assessment of the 'adaptation gap' to be included. Additional recommendations include linkages to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) outlined in the Paris Agreement, alongside reporting both past and future activities.
Learning from Southern Voices
This COP represented an opportunity to think over lessons learned from the Joint Principles of Adaptation in advocacy for pro-poor and inclusive adaptation. SV-Adapt’s workshop allowed partners to take stock of Milestones towards Pro-poor Adaptation.
Achievements were also noted at the international level, with the JPA receiving plaudits from the UNFCCC. Nonetheless, this was also a chance to look towards the future, with SV-Adapt inviting new southern partners to take part.
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Spreading lessons on adaption
SVA partners shared their experiences with colleagues and organisations across the COP. At the high-profile side event, Climate and Development Days, CISONECC’s Maggie Ngwira (see below) featured as the only civil society panel participant in a session on vertical integration in NAPs (National Adaptation Plans).
Organised by the NAP Global Programme, Maggie contributed her knowledge on the involvement of local level actors and women in Malawi's NAP . (Find the NAP Global Network's event summary here)
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This experience exchange also took place with Nepalese partner Cen at a side event in collaboration with Action Aid, World Council of Churches and CANSA (Climate Action Network South Asia).
Following CEN’s extensive consultations and planning with Nepal’s NAP, Rajan Thapa brought forward his expertise regarding CSO knowledge of climate-induced migration and non-economic loss and damage (find CEN's presentation here).
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SV-Adapt's Asian Regional facilitator Vositha Viejanayake also took part in a UNFCCC expert meeting on NAPs. Topics included integrating access to the Green Climate Fund Readiness Programme for local communities, following the theme of linking NAPs to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Vositha also employed her experience regarding management and sharing of information in regard to future adaptation projects, collaboration with the UNFCCC, updating supplementary material, and working on the NAP expo.
African regional network, PACJA, with the 1.5c global temperature target rise in mind, also participated in the ‘Big Shift’ event. This called for banks to ditch fossil fuel investment and instead look towards the renewable energy alternatives on the horizon.
Looking forward
What COP23 showed for SV-Adapt partners and climate-vulnerable countries alike is the continued need for collaboration, CSO involvement and advocacy to maintain the momentum behind climate adaptation. Demonstrated by the success of the JPA and the need for the adaptation communication policy brief, the commitments laid out in the Paris Agreement 2020 goals point towards the centrality of inclusivity, multi-stakeholder involvement and coordination to ensure success.
