6 July 2017
Adaptation and Loss and Damage Update: Regions Enhance Cooperation on DRR as Temperatures Hit New Highs
UN Photo/Logan Abassi
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The Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States enhanced cooperation on reducing the impact of natural hazards.

A climate risk and early warning initiative sought to improve the resilience of the most vulnerable countries to extreme weather and climate change impacts.

An urban climate resilience partnership sought to demonstrate benefits of nature-based solutions in cities.

30 June 2017: As May and June temperatures in parts of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the US broke a number of records, recent adaptation-related activities focused on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience.

The Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States enhanced cooperation on reducing the impact of natural hazards. A climate risk and early warning initiative sought to improve the resilience of the most vulnerable countries to extreme weather and climate change impacts. An urban climate resilience partnership sought to demonstrate benefits of nature-based solutions in cities. This Update brings you news on these and other developments.

Reports by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Copernicus Climate Change Service indicate that average global surface temperatures over land and sea for the first five months of 2017 were the second highest on record after 2016. Parts of Europe, the US, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia recorded exceptionally high temperatures in the months of May and June 2017, at times exceeding 50°C. [NOAA Assessment of Global Climate in May 2017] [NASA Press Release on May 2017] [Copernicus Climate Change Service May 2017 Monthly Map] [WMO Press Release]

The Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative took steps to boost the resilience of the most vulnerable countries by improving their multi-hazard early warning systems.

On 25 May 2017, on the margins of the 2017 Global Platform for DRR held in Cancún, Mexico, from 22-26 May 2017, the UN Office for DRR (UNISDR) and the ACP Secretariat convened a meeting to share lessons learned and best practices from DRR programmes in ACP countries funded through the European Development Fund (EDF).

The ACP Group of States comprises 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 in the Caribbean and 15 in the Pacific, and includes some of the most disaster-prone and climate-vulnerable nations in the world. [UNISDR Press Release] [ACP Group of States Website]

The Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative, implemented by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and UNISDR, took steps to boost the resilience of the most vulnerable countries by improving their multi-hazard early warning systems. At its 29 June 2017 meeting, the CREWS steering committee, approved two projects worth US$5.9 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Niger, and assessed progress on existing projects in Burkina Faso, Mali and the Pacific, along with planned projects in the Caribbean and Papua New Guinea.

CREWS aims to mobilize over US$100 million by 2020 to strengthen risk information and early warning systems in least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS). Its members include Australia, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. [WMO Press Release]

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) embarked on a five-year demonstration project ‘GROW GREEN,’ which stands for “Green Cities for Climate and Water Resilience, Sustainable Economic Growth, Healthy Citizens and Environments.” This project aims to achieve climate and water resilience in cities, and showcase benefits from nature-based solutions in urban landscapes. GROW GREEN is funded by Horizon 2020 – the European Union (EU) Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. IUCN is responsible for the project’s dissemination, capacity building and communications activities. [IUCN Press Release] [Climate-ADAPT Press Release] [Horizon 2020 Website]


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