Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience
“Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience” was released in 2019 by the Global Commission on Adaptation, an international group made of representatives from over 20 countries that sought to accelerate adaptation efforts globally. This report makes recommendations for accelerating adaptation in seven areas: water infrastructure, cities and urban areas, the natural environment, agriculture and food security, disaster risk management, infrastructure, and financing.
By providing these recommendations, the report highlights potential adaptation programs for decisionmakers in both private and public sectors. Notably, the report highlights a need for change in how decisionmakers view challenges and develop solutions. The report delineates three key areas in need of “revolutions:''
- Understanding (making risk visible)
- Planning (improving process of financial and political decisonmaking), and
- Finances (mobilizing the necessary financial resources to improve adaptation efforts).
Case studies and examples are utilized to support recommendations and emphasize the success of adaptation in reducing financial and security risks. The case studies focus on existing nature-based solutions, adaptation programs, or political decisions that have resolved climate-change induced barriers in at-risk communities.
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“Adapt Now” emphasizes equity considerations when developing adaptation strategies. Lower-income and marginalized communities will face the highest climate-induced risks. The report outlines methods to support these communities, like incorporating their knowledge into the adaptation frameworks or recognizing their rights when developing strategies. The report’s recommendations are targeted at decionmakers at the state level and national level, whether that be government officials, leaders in business, mayors, community leaders, or those involved in financial investments. The report identifies these figures as fundamental in altering the availability of equity in governmental planning. |
The report is broken down into three sections. Section One outlines the “call to action,” which highlights the reasoning behind the report’s creation. Namely, the “call to action” points toward climate change and its impacts as drivers of the report. The report provides an action item or recommendation for each risk area or failure to reach adaptation goals named in Section One.
Section Two notes how changes in Understanding, Planning, and Finances can be applied to the seven systems (food, water, natural environment, infrastructure, cities, disaster risk management, and finance). Section Two’s objective is to highlight the interconnectedness of these systems. Additionally, Section Two notes that resilience within these systems may increase prosperity overall.
Section three delineates the “Year of Action.” In 2019, the Commission launched a Year of Action in which the Commission applied recommendations from the flagship report to actual climate challenges. The Year of Action was a fifteen month effort to mobilize Action Tracks, which would jump-start the “revolutions” in Understanding, Planning, and Finances. The Commission called upon various sectors of society (governments, civil society, individuals, the private sector) for collaboration. The termination of the Commission's mandate occurred in 2020 after it completed its Year of Action.
The former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, introduced The Global Commission on Adaptation on October 16th, 2018 in The Hague. The Global Commission on Adaptation, co-managed by WRI and the Global Center on Adaptation, convened leaders of twenty-two countries to incentivize the acceleration of adaptation programs by increasing political visibility and focusing on developing solutions. The flagship report was presented at the Climate Adaptation Summit on January 25th, 2021. It was found that the Commission had succeeded in incentivizing adaptation programs in agriculture and financial decisions, introduced city-based adaptation programs, encouraged nature-based solutions, and created a momentum around local-level adaptation programs.
Publication Date: September 13, 2019
Related Organizations:
- Global Commission on Adaptation
Sectors:
- Business
- Emergency preparedness
- Land management and conservation
- Frontline Communities
Resource Category:
Resource Types:
- Policy analysis/recommendations
Impacts:
- Socioeconomic
