Opportunities and options for enhancing adaptation planning for vulnerable ecosystems, communities and groups

This technical paper explores opportunities and options for, as well as barriers to, enhancing adaptation planning in relation to vulnerable ecosystems, communities and groups. It draws primarily on the discussions among Parties and non-Party stakeholders held at the technical expert meeting on adaptation that took place on 9 and 10 May 2018 in Bonn in conjunction with the first part of the forty-eighth sessions of the subsidiary bodies as well as the discussions held at the various regional technical expert meetings. The paper presents case studies and other information on links among vulnerable ecosystems, groups and communities and the challenges associated with integrating them into adaptation planning and action with a view to identifying concrete opportunities for strengthening resilience, reducing vulnerability and increasing understanding and implementation of adaptation in the context of enhancing pre-2020 action.

Key recommendations of the publication include: 

• Employing participatory methods for adaptation planning enables input from vulnerable groups and communities and empowers them to become agents of change;
• Vulnerable groups should be viewed not as victims of climate change but as agents of change to enhance climate resilience, and they must be involved in the adaptation planning process from the beginning;
• Using existing information on participatory adaptation planning, including ecosystem-based and community-based approaches, available through the adaptation knowledge portal and other resources, allows stakeholders to benefit from the experience of others.