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ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) today made a number of key announcements

during the Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS2021) hosted by the Netherlands – the

first international summit for global leaders aimed at triggering the systemic

change required to accelerate adaptation action globally for a climate

resilient world. During the Summit GCA's work was endorsed by a number of world

leaders including Ali Bongo Odimba, President of Gabon; Nana Akufo-Addo,

President of Ghana; Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada; Carlos Alvarado

Quesado, President of Costa Rica, Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh

and Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1426338/Kristalina_Georgieva.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1044191/GCA_Logo.jpg

The Summit took place as the pandemic continues to erode recent progress in

building climate resilience, leaving countries and communities more vulnerable

to future shocks. A report by GCA "State and Trends in Adaptation 2020" (

https://gca.org/reports/state-and-trends-in-adaptation-report-2020/ ) showed

that global funding would need to increase ten-fold, to US$300 billion a year,

to meet the UN Environment Programme's estimates of what is needed to respond

to escalating climate risks. An accompanying technical report "Adaptation

Finance in the Context of Covid-19" (

https://gca.org/reports/adaptation-finance-in-the-context-of-covid-19/ )

estimated that funding for climate adaptation fell by up to 10% in 2020,

reversing the decade long trend of increasing adaptation finance to developing

countries.

Ministerial Dialogue

At the start of CAS2021, GCA hosted its first annual Ministerial Dialogue, with

over 50 ministers and leaders from international organizations, to scale-up

global leadership cooperation to accelerate climate adaptation. Going forward

it will also serve as an annual high-level forum on climate change adaptation,

acting as a lever for global leadership to drive a decade of transformation for

a climate resilient world by 2030.

Hosting the meeting, Ban Ki-moon, Co-Chair of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"In this GCA ministerial dialogue, we hope to achieve three things: a step

change in ambition, so that adaptation receives the funding and attention it

deserves. We need a step change in financing to mobilize hundreds of billions

of dollars for this decade of transformation. And we need to strengthen

partnerships and knowledge exchanges to make the best solutions and approaches

available to all."

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and

Board Member of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"The IMF is ramping up support for the policies, investment plans and skills

countries need to strengthen their response to climate change. Reducing

emissions and building resilience is win-win-win – good for growth and jobs,

for health and for our planet."

John Kerry, US Climate Presidential Envoy, who gave the keynote speech, noted

that:

"All countries are now learning how to cope with climate change. But nobody has

all the answers. The faster we gather information from each other, share data,

the faster we can join together in the effort to do what we all know is

necessary. The more quickly we're going to be able to put good solutions to

work, the faster we're going to be able to make savings in hard pressed budgets

around the world."

Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"Covid-19 ushered in an era of multiple, intersecting systemic shocks, which

demand equally powerful and coordinated solutions. Adaptation should be at the

heart our recovery. Combining steadily rising carbon prices with a green

infrastructure push can boost global GDP over the next 15 years by about 0.7

percent and generate work for millions of people. It will make us better

prepared for future shocks."

African Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP)

The urgency of the compounded COVID-19 and climate crises require accelerated

momentum in Africa's climate adaptation efforts. The African Development Bank

and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) announced they are joining forces to

use their complementary expertise, resources, and networks to launch a bold new

Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP). This flagship program will focus

on agriculture, infrastructure, youth, and innovative finance. The African

Development Bank has committed to mobilize $25 billion as climate finance

between 2020 and 2025, of which at least 50% ($12.5 billion) will support

climate adaptation and resilience building. The Bank and GCA will use this to

leverage an additional $12.5 billion with other key partners to support African

governments, private sector, and civil society to scale up effective adaptation

solutions.

An example of GCA and the Bank's transformative approach to accelerating

adaptation is a project already underway in Ghana to develop its first

national-level assessment of the resilience of its infrastructure systems to

climate change. By exploring and showcasing the potential co-benefits of

Nature-based Solutions as part of country-level package of investment in grey

and green infrastructure, Ghana will function as a demonstration country of how

to reduce costs and enhance ecosystems.

Commenting on the program launch, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African

Development Bank said:

"We must work together to accelerate adaptation action in Africa , a continent

on the frontline of climate change emergency. Today's announcement with GCA

marks the start of a bold global effort to ensure that developing countries

have the climate financing they need to implement and scale up climate

adaptation solutions."

Feike Sijbesma, Co-Chair of the Global Center on Adaptation said:

"We are all witnessing how climate change is visibly affecting people,

societies and business. We must take a strategic and integrated approach to

adaptation and develop the bold innovations and solutions to this global

challenge. This all in combination to our continued effort to mitigate climate

changes by reducing our emissions."

Youth Leadership

Following the call to action from one million young people from more than 115

countries to "Adapt for our Future" (

https://gca.org/reports/global-youth-call-to-action-adapt-for-our-future/ ),

Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and Patrick

Verkooijen, CEO of GCA announced the African Adaptation Acceleration Program

would strengthen ecosystems that support youth-led climate adaptation

entrepreneurship and youth participation in adaptation policies; scale up

climate adaptation innovations by strengthening business development services

to 10,000 youth-owned enterprises and 10,000 youth with business ideas on jobs

and adaptation; Develop tailored skills and provide starting tool packs for 1

million youth to prepare them for climate resilient jobs and entrepreneurial

opportunities in adaptation and unlock USD 3 billion in credit for adaptation

action by innovative youth-owned enterprises through innovative financial

instruments.

State and Trends Knowledge Exchange

GCA launched the State and Trends in Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (STAKE)

(http://52.197.166.250/ ) to make data, information, and learnings on

climate-change adaptation both accessible and actionable, with the aim of

engaging policy-makers, professionals, experts, and other stakeholders. The new

platform connects areas of science, policy, and practice through dedicated

elements—such as the Adaptation Gateway, which covers data, solutions and

insights, Communities of Practice, the State and Trends report series, and the

Adaptation Action Agenda—brokering solutions to accelerate adaptation action

from a local to a global scale. The Adaptation Gateway provides data

visualization, systematized solutions, analyses, and insights on the state and

trends of climate-change resilience and adaptation.

1000 Cities Adapt Now Initiative

During the Summit, the Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb presented the 10-year

Global Program 1000 Cities Adapt Now (

https://gca.org/reports/joint-statement-on-accelerating-climate-adaptation-in-cities-1000-cities-adapt-now-global-program/

). 1000 Cities Adapt Now' (1000CAN) is a global program that aims for a green

and just post-COVID-19 recovery -- a recovery that helps create new jobs,

improve equity and prepare communities to adapt to climate and health threats.

The coalition network partners, including GCA which will host the program,

sought the commitment of other mayors to strengthen the role of cities in

improving our environment, climate and society in the lead-up to COP26, and

beyond. This resulted in the Joint Statement on Accelerating Climate Adaptation

in Cities being presented to world leaders including Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Mayor Aboutaleb speaking at the launch said:

"Every day, cities are dealing with the effects of climate change and the need

to adapt to be resilient. It is our task as mayors of cities worldwide to

address these issues and generate solutions. With the Joint Statement on

Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities, we underline our ambitions and needs

to speed up and scale up adaptation measures in 1000 cities in the coming

decade."

Living with water: Climate Adaptation in the World's Deltas

GCA launched a report on climate adaptation in the world's deltas (

https://gca.org/reports/living-with-water-climate-adaptation-in-the-worlds-deltas/

) which presents a series of lighthouse adaptation case studies and sets how to

scale up and accelerate adaptation in these climate hotspots. The report

flagged that climate adaptation in delta areas is a complex issue and that

understanding deltas requires better, open-access climate data collection.  The

report also noted that making deltas more climate resilient requires decades

and legal and political frameworks that are conducive to long-term, integrated

planning, and predictable budgets, but at the same time urgent adaptation

action needs to start immediately.

Free online global education initiative

GCA announced it is collaborating with the University of Groningen in the

Netherlands to offer free online courses on Climate Adaptation Governance

through FutureLearn (

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/climate-adaptation-governance ). The first

course is on Climate Adaptation Governance - Making Climate Adaptation Happen (

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/climate-adaptation-governance?utm_source=RakutenMarketing&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=3132850:MOOC+List&utm_content=10:1&utm_term=UKNetwork&ranMID=42801&ranEAID=*GqSdLGGurk&ranSiteID=.GqSdLGGurk-.ixcyiEBd68fNRB5YpKbBQ

). In addition, the University of Groningen will start offering a

specialisation in Climate Adaptation Governance from September 2021 onwards.

07887 804594, alex.gee@gca.org

SOURCE  The Global Center on Adaptation