NAIROBI, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Countries worldwide must increase interventions to address the climate crisis, including targeted adaptation financing, capacity building, and technology transfer, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said in a new report launched Thursday in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
UNEP's Adaptation Gap Report 2024, titled "Come Hell and High Water," said that climate emergencies have escalated, necessitating urgent action to strengthen coping mechanisms for vulnerable communities in the Global South.
The report was launched ahead of the 29th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change summit, scheduled to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from Nov. 11-22.
The report warned that climate-linked disasters are pushing the planet toward a precipice while increasing adaptation financing is essential to securing a resilient and greener future for communities.
UNEP's Executive Director Inger Andersen said that the failure to increase adaptation measures has undermined responses to climatic shocks, harming the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable populations.
"Well-financed and effective adaptation that incorporates fairness and equity is more urgent than ever," Andersen said, adding that adaptation financing should be more anticipatory and strategic, rather than reactive.
According to the report, international public adaptation finance flows to developing countries rose from 22 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 to 28 billion dollars in 2022.
At the UN climate summit held in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, developed nations agreed to double adaptation finance for developing counterparts to at least 38 billion dollars by 2025.
The report said that developing countries are grappling with shrinking fiscal space, debt burdens and rising inflation, limiting their ability to secure sufficient funds for adapting to the climate crisis.
"As climate impacts rise with warming, both the costs of reducing risks through adaptation and the likelihood of the residual risks manifesting in the form of losses and damages increase," the report said.
According to the report, 171 countries have at least one adaptation policy or strategy in place, while 16 of the 26 countries without any plan are in the Global South, including those classified as fragile.
To unlock adaptation finance, the report called for fiscal and regulatory incentives, de-risking private sector investments, and exploring innovative financing instruments such as performance-based grants, resilience credits and bonds, debt-for-adaptation swaps, and payment for ecosystem services. ■
