COP27 Presidency announces climate change adaptation agenda

The 30 Adaptation outcomes include urgent global 2030 targets related to:

  1. Transitioning to climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture can increase yields by 17 per cent and reduce farm-level greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 21 per cent without expanding agricultural frontiers, and while improving livelihoods including those of smallholder farmers;
  2. Protecting and restoring an estimated 400 million hectares in critical areas (land and freshwater ecosystems) supporting indigenous and local communities with use of nature-based solutions to improve water security and livelihoods and to transform 2 billion hectares of land into sustainable management;
  3. Protecting three billion people by installing smart and early warning systems;
  4. Investing USD four billion to secure the future of 15 million hectares of mangroves through collective action to halt loss, restore, double protection and ensure sustainable finance for all existing mangroves;
  5. Expanding access to clean cooking for 2.4 billion people through at least USD 10 billion/year in innovative finance;
  6. Mobilising USD140 to USD300 billion needed across both public and private sources for adaptation and resilience and spur 2,000 of the world's largest companies to integrate physical climate risk and develop actionable adaptation plans

The interventions are timely as climate change becomes a major threat to human well-being globally, with particular intensity on the African continent.

The 6th Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in August 2021, singled out Africa as singularly vulnerable to climate and weather extremes.

An IPCC AR6 WG II report research also warns that nearly half of the world's population will be at severe risk of climate change impacts by 2030.