24.10.2023
Is adaptation failing to keep up with risks?
Obviously, climate risks are increasing markedly as global warming accelerates. Climate impacts are intensifying around the world, such as the multi-year drought in Somalia, widespread flooding in South Asia, intense summer heatwaves and severe droughts in many regions of the Northern Hemisphere. These and many other examples illustrate the actively growing climate risks.
Even large-scale investments in adaptation will no longer be able to fully prevent impacts as stated in the IPCC's VI report. According to world experts, even under the most positive low-emission scenarios, the world will face serious climate risks before the end of this century. Therefore, enhanced action to adapt to climate change is now of paramount importance, with mitigation taking a back seat.
However, there has been significant progress, with 8 out of 10 countries having at least one national planning tool. And adaptation strategies, plans and laws have been developed by at least 84% of all parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Unfortunately, progress still hasn't kept pace with the growing risks. The situation demands accelerated research, innovative planning, more funding and profound international cooperation.
According to the authors, the main factors adversely affecting the accelerated implementation of adaptation strategies include:
-
Increased focus on short-term issues and ignoring potential future climate risks;
-
Inadequate indicators that reflect merely what is easy to measure but difficult to validate and interpret in terms of climate risk reduction.
For more details on the report, please refer to https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/41079https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/41079
The second phase of adaptation to climate change has already started in Russia at the national level (the first phase of adaptation covered 2019-2022, the second phase includes activities until 2025, and the third phase will last until 2028 inclusive). The corresponding document was already endorsed in March of this year (Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 559-r of 11.03.2023). The authorities have already actively started its implementation.
17 activities of the federal, sectoral and regional block are to be implemented by the end of 2025. One of the main tasks at the federal level is to create a regulatory and methodological framework for the planning and implementation of regional measures for adaptation to climate change, since each region is characterized by its own. The constituent entities of the Russian Federation were recommended to update regional adaptation strategies (plans) by the end of the 1Q 2025.
As part of the second phase of the adaptation plan, the implementation of the Major Innovative Project of National Significance, a project to create a national system for monitoring climate active substances in the atmosphere (greenhouse and aerosol emissions), as well as the carbon balance of natural and anthropogenically modified ecosystems, will also be continued.
Unsplash/ NEOM/ mokhalad-musavi
Other news
.jpg)
.jpg)
Comments