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A2R initiative to speed up climate change reselience
CLIMATE RESILIENCE:
A2R Initiative to speed up climate resilience before 2020
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Partners of a new UN-led platform to mobilize and accelerate action on climate resilience agreed at their meeting to move ahead with plans that will help meet the needs of a growing global population that is being impacted by climate change.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Initiative on Climate Resilience, known as A2R (Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape), was launched by world leaders during the Paris Climate Conference last year.
The A2R Leadership Group comprises Germany, Egypt, Morocco, Samoa, the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Resilience Partnership; Bangladesh based philanthropic Bank BRAC, Insurance Development Forum (IDF), Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Center, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and UN Environment.
The Leadership Group is charged with implementing the transformational vision embedded in the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable Development Goals through an unprecedented global multistakeholder partnership.
It will catalyze climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts to support people in addressing the challenge of climate change, contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the past two decades, 4.2 billion people have been affected by weather-related disasters such as floods, droughts and storms, including a significant loss of lives. At the same time, climate change is increasing at an unprecedented pace. Global surface temperatures and Arctic sea ice extent broke numerous records in the first half of 2016. In addition, each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in modern temperature records, which date to 1880.
“We have no time to lose,” Mr. Ban told the Leadership Group. “The global thermostat continues to rise. Each month brings new temperature records and more floods, droughts and extreme weather events. Vulnerability to climate risk continues to increase. This translates to greater humanitarian need and more economic losses.
“The A2R initiative will help countries secure expertise and financial resources for strengthening climate resilience. Today’s launch of the Leadership Group establishes A2R’s place within the UN system.”
The A2R initiative addresses the needs of the nearly one billion people who live in at-risk coastal areas just a few meters above rising seas, as well as those living in areas at risk of droughts, floods, storms and other climate-related risks.
“More than a tenth of the world’s population faces climate risks,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, deputy head of UN Environment. “The A2R initiative cannot solve this major challenge alone: we must work with the best partners to deliver more effective, scaled up action on climate resilience on the ground.”
“The hardest hit are the poor and vulnerable, including smallholder farmers, fishers, foresters and the indigenous - the same people who provide the bulk of our planet’s food,” said Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of FAO. “To feed a growing global population in a changing climate, we must support farming families to adopt risk sensitive agriculture for more productive, resilient and sustainable food systems.”
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said, “Building resilience is at the heart of UNDP’s efforts to promote a more inclusive and sustainable future for all. Climate change threatens livelihoods and erodes opportunities for poverty eradication.”
The A2R initiative focuses on accelerating climate resilience for the most vulnerable before 2020 by strengthening three elements: the capacity to better anticipate and act on climate hazards through early warning and early action; the capacity to absorb shocks by increasing insurance and social protection coverage; and the capacity to adapt development to reduce risks at the local, national, regional and international level.
At its first meeting on 24th September, the initiative’s Leadership Group and partners will discussed the need for measurable targets for each of the three pillars of A2R and ensure a high profile for A2R’s role in promoting the importance of climate resilience at the next global climate meeting (COP22) in Marrakech.
For more information on the A2R initiative, please visit http://www.a2rinitiative.org �
ECOTRUST:
Showcased Uganda’s Conservation Initiatives at IUCN’s WCC - Hawaii
Once every four years, the IUCN World Conservation Congress brings together several thousand leaders and decision-makers from government, civil society, indigenous peoples, business, and academia, with the goal of conserving the environment and harnessing the solutions nature offers to global challenges.
The Congress is the world’s largest and most democratic conservation forum - where IUCN Members vote on key conservation and environmental issues as well as electing leaders.
This year’s theme was ‘Planet at the Crossroads’ which reflected the serious choices and actions the world needs to make to reverse environmental declines and secure a healthy, livable planet.
The WCC Forum was held from 2 to 5 September 2016 was rich with informative and insightful events that included; high level dialogues, conservation campuses, workshops, knowledge cafe’s and electronic - posters, all that explored the depths of conservation and innovation. ECOTRUST led an initiative in which an e-poster presentation for the forum was developed to showcase conservation initiatives advanced by the 13 member organizations of the Uganda National Committee (UNC) of IUCN in the different thematic areas of; Health, Restoration, Poverty Alleviation, Social Equity, conservation planning and community participation that take a One Health Approach.
The UNC actively took part in the member’s assembly which saw the passing of 106 policy motions.
A major lesson learnt from WCC is that strong partnerships are needed to implement conservation at the scales required. There is need to broaden and deepen the global dialogue about how we relate to nature, motivate collective action, and ensure that nature-based solutions are fair, just and enduring.
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