Event1: Lessons learnt from the GCF project implementation: Moving forward
Organiser: Green Climate Fund (GCF)
Speakers: Mr. Vladislav Arnaoudov, GCF; Mr. Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, UNDP; Ms. Preety Bhandari; ADB; Ms. Tagaloa Cooper-Halo, Pacific Regional Environmental Programme
Key message:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has climate resilience guidelines, accessible to the public, that can be used to develop a climate rationale for projects to be submitted to the GCF.
Event2: Water – From Science to Action. Mitigation and Adaptation in and through the Water Sector.
Organisers: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Speakers: Heike Henn, BMZ; Fred Hattermann, PIK; John Matthews, AGWA; Traore Abdou Ramani, Niger Basin Authority; Musonda Mumba, UNEP; Ingrid Timboe, AGWA; Anjali Lohani, GWP, Jochen Renger, GIZ
Key messages:
1. An important adaptation strategy is mitigation. Analyzing climate change impacts from a 1.5 degree temperature rise to a business as usual scenario, it is apparent that what we do today to mitigate climate change will make adaptation in any case urgent, but easier. Mitigation is therefore an important consideration when it comes to medium- and long-term resilience. That said, it remains critical to address adaptation needs of the most vulnerable in the immediate term and with climate change happening no matter how quickly the world can mitigate climate change.
2. Climate change can be an effective driver for upstream-downstream cooperation. Cooperation around transboundary waters is challenging due to hydrological characteristics of the basin and the distribution of resources, as well as non-structural factors such as historical legacies and socio-economic and political contexts. But climate change impacts on water are real, and visible – climate change is impacting the livelihoods of fishermen, pastoralists, farmers. Only when people see the problem, will they act on it, hence it’s important to exchange between people living upstream and downstream to act on realizing benefits of resilient water management.
3. Wetlands accommodate more carbon than any other ecosystem type. Peatlands alone store twice as much carbon as forests. The capacity of peatlands to keep storing carbon critically depends on sustainable water management as the groundwater and surface hydrology form their lifeline. Peatlands release these carbon stocks when the peat is no longer subject to waterlogged conditions. This way, drainage of peatlands is responsible for 5 % of the global CO2 emissions. The bulk of them is emitted by degrading tropical peatlands, and especially by those in Southeast Asia. Given their large carbon pools and the slow peat formation process, safeguarding peatlands must be a priority for climate mitigation. Peatland conservation is an important mitigation component with co-benefits for biodiversity and adaptation. The known potential has grown through the recent discovery of massive new peatlands like the Cuvette Centrale in Africa’s Congo Basin.
3. The water sector is a significant contributor to global warming. Water supply and sanitation services – or the lack of the latter – are responsible for high emissions of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2). Moreover, unsustainable water management causes the degradation of water-dependent ecosystems that consequently stop functioning as carbon sinks. More than 10 % of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be attributed to these activities, giving the water sector a critical yet generally undervalued role in climate change mitigation (see below figure, click to enlarge)
Excerpt from Factsheet on Water and Climate Mitigation published by GIZ on behalf of BMZ, with research by PIK and adelphi
Top photo: Lessons learnt from the GCF project implementation: Moving forward