Bringing adaptation into the Francophone Cluster of the Partnership for Transparency in the Paris Agreement

The joint FAO-UNDP Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans Programme (NAP-Ag) supports partner countries to identify and integrate climate adaptation measures for the agricultural sectors into relevant national planning and budgeting processes. The programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), through its International Climate Initiative (IKI).

1 June 2018 - The Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans (NAP-Ag) team co-organised and took part in the 8th Regional Workshop of the Francophone Cluster of the Partnership for Transparency in the Paris Agreement (PATPA) in Douala, Cameroon, 23 to 25 May 2018. It was the very first regional workshop of the partnership focusing on adaptation, and was attended by 57 participants from 21 countries, mainly technical staff working in different ministries on adaptation and climate change.

Titled “How to measure, monitor, evaluate and report on the progress in implementing climate change adaptation measures?” the objective of the workshop was to sensitise and strengthen technical capacities for a monitoring system that serves both national and international needs. It was also an opportunity for the participants to exchange knowledge and experiences on good practices, as well as to support the integration of climate change adaptation into sectoral policy planning and NAPs, and facilitate the establishment and sustainability of a network of Francophone experts beyond this meeting. The workshop was funded by Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France, FAO and UNDP, and was co-organised with the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development of Cameroon.

The highly interactive workshop combined both technical and working group sessions. It articulated three main points throughout the 2,5 days:

- Overview of the conceptual framework for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and adaptation measures, through a video message by the UNFCCC Secretary, presentations by IIED, UNDP, the NAP-Ag , followed by country sharing their experiences (Benin, Burundi, France and Morocco), highlighting challenges and lessons learned.

- Understanding of the setting-up of a national M&E system: a day dedicated to working groups, with two exercises highlighting approaches and instruments related to institutional frameworks, indicators and data collection.

- Perspectives to strengthen capacities and establish a sustainable network.

The NAP-Ag team presented results from the NDC Regional Analysis of Eastern African Countries, highlighting the importance of adaptation and synergies between adaptation and mitigation and the need to adopt a holistic approach to better link Sustainable Development Goals, NDCs and NAPs to achieve the Paris Agreement.

A group exercise was organised based on the up-coming NAP-Ag Training Package on M&E, focusing on the selection of indicators and the identification of data sources, which are key steps in building a national M&E system.

The presentation on Adaptation given by UNFCCC highlighted the transparency challenges for adaptation, in agreement with the Paris Agreement , and flagged the importance of the global stocktake, the first one taking place in 2023.

Welcomed and seen as timely, this workshop provided a good first understanding of countries capacity building needs on Adaptation and M&E. Countries expressed their strong wish to sustain these exchanges of experiences throughout a Francophone Network and future workshops.