8 December 2014: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) convened almost 300 policymakers, ecosystems experts and civil society representatives for a workshop on ‘Enhancing the Horn of Africa Adaptive and Responsive Capacity to Climate Change Impacts.’ Participants shared their experiences and challenges faced in scaling ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) practices, with a view to finding replicable successes, targeted ecological actions and other avenues for addressing climate change disaster impacts in Africa.

In explaining the rationale for the workshop, which was held 27-28 November 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya, UNEP cites the 58% likelihood of an El Niño occurrence in Africa and the droughts of 2012 and 2011 in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, respectively. The onset of climate change impacts is compounded by food insecurity, resource depletion, degradation of ecosystems, population growth, water scarcity and natural disasters, according to UNEP.

In this context, delegates backed “no regrets EbA preventative measures as the first step towards building resilient societies and averting the impacts of climate change disasters.” In their adopted recommendations, delegates call for, inter alia, up-scaling of no regret adaptation solutions that build biophysical and social resilience of communities; the promotion and use of inexpensive technologies that have already proven themselves in Africa; and an integrated approach in managing all cycles of local, national and regional scale disasters and climate change impacts.

In recommendations directed at African governments and regional bodies, the delegates ask for the institutionalization of no regret adaptation and preventive measures into national policy frameworks, and for the development of funding guidance frameworks, accompanied by a clear implementation plan to support ecological initiatives in the short-, medium- and long-terms. They further suggest that the African Ministerial Conference on Environment adopt their recommendations. [UNEP Press Release] [UNEP Website]