Advancing medium and long-term adaptation planning and budgeting in Niger

Project details

Introduction

The project aimed to enhance adaptation-related prioritization, planning, financing, and capacity development in Niger by integrating climate change considerations into medium- and long-term development planning and budgeting through the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process. To mitigate Niger's vulnerability to climate change, the project emphasized the need for increased investments and greater integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction into existing development programs.

The project strategically addressed the challenges outlined in Niger's NAP Stocktaking Report, particularly focusing on the effective integration of climate change adaptation into planning and budgeting processes. It worked in synergy with other initiatives, including support for the National Disaster Risk Prevention and Management Facility in aligning climate change with its strategy. Additionally, the project played a role in the development of Niger's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) by conducting gender studies and analyzing climate scenarios. Through its efforts, the project enabled the implementation of Niger's national climate change strategy and developed Niger’s NAP, adopted on September 20, 2022.

Project details

The foundations for the NAP process were built through the preparation of the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) in 2006 with support from UNDP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The NAPA identified urgent and immediate needs in seven vulnerable sectors and fourteen priority adaptation interventions. The National Climate Change Policy (PNCC) adopted in 2013 provides the overall strategic framework to tackle climate change. To move beyond urgent and immediate needs, and towards a medium-term approach, Niger intends to integrate climate change into medium- and long-term development planning and budgeting through the NAP process, under its obligation to the UNFCCC and as stated in its PNCC. This process will contribute to ensuring that the country’s long-term development strategy - starting with its Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth Strategy (SDDCI) and its National Economic and Social Development plans – is based on an understanding of climate-related risks and opportunities for inclusive growth and sustainable development.

Niger advanced its NAP process by conducting a preliminary stocktake of relevant initiatives on climate adaptation and mainstreaming to identify gaps and needs. A NAP roadmap was subsequently drafted, which outlined the main steps and timeline of advancing the NAP process in Niger.

This project was steered at the country level by the Executive Secretariat of the National Council of Environment for Sustainable Development (SE/CNEDD), which is the coordinating body for all Rio Conventions and climate change-related initiatives and the National Designated Authority to the GCF. It closely engaged the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Finance, as well as key sectoral ministries, national training and research institutions and civil society, including the private sector. It coordinated closely with other related initiatives such as the GEF-LDCF adaptation planning in the water sector project, the EU-funded PARC-DAD and the World Bank Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience. The project was aligned with the “Nigeriens Nourish the Nigeriens” Initiative (Initiative 3N), the Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth Strategy (SDDCI), the National Economic and Social Development Plan (PDES), and the National Climate Learning Strategy.

PROJECT RATIONALE

The exposure to climate risks, associated with its position as a Sahelian landlocked country, makes Niger one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. Approximately 42.8 percent of the GDP and 80 percent of the workforce are employed in the agriculture, forestry and livestock sectors. Climate change is expected to worsen climate risks over the next decades, with an increase in the frequency of droughts, resulting in a decrease in agricultural production, an increase in grazing pressure on pastoral ecosystems, and consequently soil erosion on a mass scale, threatening food security; and floods resulting from the heavy rainfall. The country was ranked 189 out of 191 in the UNDP’s Human Development Index in 2022, with over 90 percent of the population living in multidimensional poverty.

PROJECT RESULTS

The project made significant strides in building institutional and individual capacities and provided Niger with a comprehensive NAP built on up-to-date evidence, along with an implementation strategy. The NAP document in Niger was adopted on September 20, 2022 and published by the UNFCCC in November, 2022.

National mandate, strategy and steering mechanisms are in place and gaps are assessed and addressed

Revived the National Technical Commission on Climate Change and Variability, strengthening the coordinating bodies of the NAP process

National Commission provided support for the development of the NAP as well as for other activities related to climate change

Strengthened the capacities of some of its executives, which in turn has allowed it to ensure the coordination of the process as it chairs the Project Steering Committee

Draft NAP developed through consultations (ministries and technical institutions, representatives of communities, the private sector, religious and traditional leaders, women's and youth organisations, civil society and media), combined with analyses of climate data and vulnerability to climate change and assessments and capacity building of stakeholders

25 adaptation options were identified and prioritised for the five priority sectors (livestock, health, transport, forestry and wetlands)

Draft NAP document was enriched and validated through regional workshops

Facilitated NAP implementation through a review of development planning processes, institutional mechanisms for CCA integration, training on the climate public expenditure review (CPEIR), and participation in international events

Raised awareness and trained key national structures, notably the ministries of planning, finance, decentralization, land use planning, environment

Mechanisms for reporting, monitoring, and reviewing NAPs and adaptation progress established

Monitoring and evaluation of the NAP strengthened through the mapping of existing monitoring and evaluation systems of the National Council on Environment for Sustainable Development (CNEDD)

Executed Secretariat of the CNEDD (SE/CNEDD) consolidated its monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanism to better reflect the national indicators related to the Economic and Social Development Plan (PDES)

Funding strategy for the NAP and climate change established

Capacity of actors strengthened to design projects and mobilize funds

Creation of a private sector resource mobilization strategy and a NAP financing strategy

Increased the awareness of the private sector of the necessity to address climate change, as well as its potential opportunities

Banks (BAGRI) and national funds, such as the Fonds d 'Investissement pour la Sécurité Alimentaire (FISAN), are working towards GCF Direct Access accreditation