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Vositha's Blog

~ a story of life, love and other things

Vositha's Blog

Monthly Archives: November 2015

National Adaptation Plans: Cancun to Paris, a Move Forward/ Step Back?

24 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by vositha in ADP 2015, Climate Change, COP21, Uncategorized, UNFCCC

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

climate negotiations, COP21, National Adaptation Plans

In 2010, at the 16th session of the Conference of Parties, the Cancun Adaptation Framework  (CAF) affirmed that adaptation and mitigation need to be addressed with the same level of priority.  The objective of the CAF provides for the enhancement of adaptation action, through international cooperation, and coherent consideration of matters relating to adaptation under the Convention. The ultimate objective of this being the reduction of vulnerability of communities to the impacts of climate change, and building resilience in developing countries especially those that are most vulnerable to climate change.

CAF & NAPs

CAF further introduced the national adaptation plans (NAPs), a key element to address adaptation at national level, as part of the five clusters introduced by the CAF. NAPs was introduced as a process to enable LDC Parties to formulate and implement adaptation actions at the national level. The CAF also invited other developing country Parties to employ modalities developed to support the NAPs.

Since Cancun, the NAPs further evolved through subsequent COP decisions. The adaptation actions are to be undertaken in accordance with the Convention, follow a country-driven, gender-sensitive, participatory and fully transparent approach, taking into consideration vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems. They are also to be based on and guided by the best available science and, as appropriate, traditional and indigenous knowledge; and be undertaken with a view to integrating adaptation into relevant social, economic and environmental policies and actions. Finance for NAPs for LDCs was requested to be through the Least Developed Countries Fund, and for developing countries to be through the Special Climate Change Fund and the Green Climate Fund, based on country driven, and any preparatory efforts that exist in the country to implement the NAPs.

The question that remains is what role or importance is allocated to NAPs by the Draft Texts for Paris, and what outcomes could be expected for them, based on the documents proposed for negotiations. For the purpose of this article, the choice of language for commitment towards adaptation and NAPs have been considered as binding, and the “best-case” choice of text – using the “shall” bracketed options is considered.

 

COP21 Draft Text for the Agreement

 

Adaptation is included in Article 4 of the negotiating text. Among choices to be made that have grabbed the attention of many is the choice between global goal and long-term vision for adaptation. While agreeing that the global goal on adaptation is important, and that it needs to reflect the level of temperature based on the mitigation targets, and link that to the associated level of adaptation that would be needed, what remains missing in importance seems to be the NAPs in the text. While certain elements to be highlighted in NAPs, such as those of livelihoods, gender equality, economic diversification, ecosystems are reflected through options to be decided on, the direct reference to NAPs remain minute, and not reflecting the amount of time invested in the five years since Cancun to ensure that the formulation, and more importantly the implementation, of NAPs would be a key element in the progress of adaptation actions in countries.

 

The text of Article 4 provides for the need to support “national adaptation plans and other adaptation actions, in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of the Convention,” and the option is left for Parties to decide whether it should be a binding commitment or non-mandatory. If one were to pick the option “shall” among those options proposed in the bracketed text, as mentioned above if assuming the most optimistic choice of language,  then the Least Developed Countries and the Small Island Developing Countries will be able to hold the developed countries responsible for the provision of support for the NAPs and adaptation actions in their countries.

 

Article 4.6 of the Draft Text caters again (with options as usual, and many a bracket) to mentioning the NAPs. However the previous text on NAPs, the reference to NAPs is listed as an option among others which do not necessarily include the “implementation” aspect that the NAPs include, once again allowing it to be left out of the Agreement. The text provides for the following:  “Each Party, in accordance with [Article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention and] its national circumstances and priorities (shall) engage in [a] [national] adaptation planning [process], [including national adaptation plans,] and enhance other relevant plans, policies, actions and/or contributions.”

 

A simple analysis of the above option provides that:

  1. a) Engaging in NAPs, and support thereof, is not deemed to be a country commitment
  2. b) “Plans” is a word to be questioned as it would produce a “product”, which makes it likely that a commitment of support for its contents would be sought, as opposed to a more vague wording such as “planning”
  3. c) The word “including adaptations plans” gives Parties the belief that they could pick whether to embark on formulating a NAP or not, and that the choice is somehow for their own benefit, and that a NAP is not considered with sufficient importance that it needs to be allocated.
  4. d) There is also the option of not developing a NAP, but to continue planning, or enhancing plans and policies and other options that exist for Parties to address adaptation needs of the country.

 

Financing NAPs

 

The next mention of NAPs in the Draft Text is through the option on financing for adaptation under Article 4.  The text conspicuously lacks a mandate for international support to be provided by the UNFCCC’s financial mechanism.  Rather, it refers to bilateral support which is neither accountable to the COP nor of which additionality is fully traceable by the Parties.  Additionally, the text merely mentions “plans”, which need not specifically be understood to refer to the actual COP-endorsed NAPs:

 

“[Developed country Parties shall provide developing country Parties, taking into account the needs of those that are particularly vulnerable, with long-term, scaled-up, predictable, new and additional finance, technology and capacity- building, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, to implement urgent, short-, medium- and long-term adaptation actions, plans, programmes and projects at the local, national, subregional and regional levels, in and across different economic and social sectors and ecosystems][Developed countries [shall][should] transfer technology, in particular for early warning systems through United Nations mechanisms in order to make it accessible for all].”

 

Not only do the options not explicitly mention NAPs, they also provide for it to be merged through wording provided and picked out from. It remains doubtful as to whether the intention of the textual proposal encompasses the objective of seeking finance for NAPs including their formulation for all developing countries, or whether the intention is to preserve the ambiguity that leads for finance needs for developing NAPs for all developing Parties to be left outside the commitments on finance by developed countries; the advantage of the wording being that finance for adaptation actions is provided may be interpreted to include and not be limited to NAPs, whereas the disadvantage being that it prevents countries from developing comparable products – plans that are holistic, and covering the needs at national level, based on the already-agreed COP guidelines, that would inevitably facilitate better adaptation which is inclusive, participatory, transparent and accountable.

 

The draft decision text requests the Adaptation Committee to take into account of the aggregate temperature level based on the mitigation section of the Agreement, and to refer to the impacts it would have on national adaptation planning in countries. It further emphasises the need for support for LDCs for implementing their NAPs, and the request to the GCF to expedite the process for accessing finance. The question thereby remains for those developing countries that wish to access adaptation finance, and not provided with support for formulating a NAP, or technical support for it. Would the assumption be that all countries are required to develop adaptation policies, and have undertakings under their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, and thereby not provided additional funding for developing them, in turn making it not the issue of providing support for all developing countries to formulate and implement NAPs?

 

NAPs in Paris: A Step Back?

 

In Cancun and in subsequent decisions, NAPs evolved as a means for identifying country driven solutions for adaptation, as well as a way of accessing finance for adaptation for LDCs, as well as other developing countries including SIDS. Decision 3/CP.20 “recognizes that the process to formulate and implement national adaptation plans is fundamental for building adaptive capacity and reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change,” which is different to what is mentioned on NAPs in the COP21 texts.

 

It further adds that NAPs to be “continuous, iterative and long-term nature of the national adaptation plan process, and that … can serve as an important tool for ensuring a common understanding and for communicating progress made towards both reducing vulnerability and integrating climate change adaptation into national and development planning.”

 

In addition to this, in Lima the Parties decided that “there is a need to enhance the reporting on the process to formulate and implement the national adaptation plan,” and also noted “that there is a need to strengthen the existing reporting related to the process to formulate and implement national adaptation plans under the Convention.” An aspect that has been put to question in the COP21 texts, where NAPs are not emphasised, and nor seen as a key focus for reporting on adaptation. The negotiating process seems to be developing selective amnesia where previous gains on adaptation planning and implementation are concerned and is, accordingly, starting the same discussion from scratch, yet ironically with less aspiration than what had already been previously accomplished.

 

The same applies for financing NAPs. If the process is to be in accordance with the Lima Decision on NAPs as agreed by Parties, then the needs for financing of NAPs in LDCs as well as all developing countries need to be addressed. The decision in Lima provided that “the Adaptation Committee and the Least Developed Countries Expert Group, in collaboration with the Green Climate Fund, as an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism, consider how to best support developing country Parties in accessing funding from the Green Climate Fund for the process to formulate and implement national adaptation plans, and to report thereon to the Subsidiary Body for Implementation at its forty-second session.” The COP21 texts reverse this progress by narrowing this provision of finance only to the LDCs.

 

Where to in Paris?

 

In Paris, countries need to ensure that NAPs are a key element of the adaptation planning and processes of countries, and that the developing country Parties are all supported, specifically by the financial mechanism of the convention, to not only formulate NAPs, but also to implement them in a country driven manner which prioritises the developmental needs as well as increasing the resilience of communities of those countries. The NAPs should not be limited to the LDCs, and/or the SIDS (while special attention may very well need to be allocated to them due to their vulnerabilities) but to all developing countries as a step building on and consistent with the provisions of the Cancun Adaptation Framework. If this is not recognised, then the work on NAPs and adaptation will be moving 5 years behind, as opposed to moving to solve the global needs for adaptation through the Paris Agreement.

 

NAP

 

(c) Creative Commons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Umbrella Universe

22 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by vositha in poetry or something of the sort., Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

independent woman, liberal, society, umbrella

photo1.jpg

She walks

Blocking the view

With her umbrella.

 

No rain

No sun too harsh

Only the world

The people

Judging, doubting

Views of theirs

Of her, on her

What be best for her.

 

She continues

Blocking their looks

With shades united

Of her umbrella universe.

 

 

Of Sunny Days & Tragedies

20 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by vositha in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

I decided to spend a day writing. Been a while since I decided that I would be sitting in one place, and penning down (of course typing down) all those thoughts I should have done for a while. I have been reading a lot on the topic I wanted to write on, without actually writing anything down. He asks me where the article I said I would write was, and I tell him that I am working on it, while talking to him (multi-tasking much!) which is not a lie, but actually a fact. Then again, I get into doing something else, distracted by some email,  trying to figure out where money goes in some budgets, where my work life is headed, when might be the due “bye bye” time, and what not. Life is in transition as usual, and I make plans for what is to come, post-winter of course. (Winters are times for caving in, not heading out. I think I have established that I like my temperature moderate, around 16 degrees celsius preferably.)

Epiphany : I like sunflowers! I was clearing  up my laptop folders, something like spring-cleaning but more of a digital option I think. Then not exactly in spring. Anyways, I was going through photos, in folders I did not know existed when faces started popping up on my screen, happy faces and sunflowers. I like sunflowers, (yes I know I said this once, no harm in repeating it again, and I love flowers, at least  many of them) they are warm and sunny. I like smiles too, they are warm and sunny, though people who smile are not necessarily sunny, or warm for that matter. I decided to keep some of them, just to question my sunny feelings, and possibly the warm feelings. Good I thought, just to have that random check on robot-status or not. “Check! check! Human? Robot? Other?”

And this week has been enlightening. I discovered a few tragedies thanks to my friends. One was genuinely concerned on finding after almost three and half years that I am a single parent. She announced to me that she was shocked at my tragedy, and that she could not believe how this sort of thing could happen to me. Bless her lovely soul for worrying about me, given my indifference to the tragedy, I would be quite worried about myself too. About my emotional status, and not of course about being a single parent. But yes, “Thank you!”

The second tragedy: Finding out I had put on, on my belly and arms to be precise! Thank you to a very observant observer (yes I like to repeat words for emphasis). He wanted to know what had happened to me, what was wrong, and why I had put on. I was pretty sure I had not changed sizes in clothes, and was creeped by the specific analysis of where I had put on as well, the anatomical observation and all that. (Even indifferent women get creeped out by anatomy specific analysis, or yes they do!) I was not sure whether he creeped me more than one of my bosses who once was protesting over my butter consumption over a working breakfast  and said, “Ah keep on eating that! You have put on so much here!” (indication to the right side of the waist, by pointing at his belly). So no one needs to doubt how much I consumed that morning, though I ensured I put a load of butter on the piece of bread that was in my hand, and made a show of putting it on the bread as well (for dramatic effect of course). He seemed shocked at my non abiding nature of his wonderful, indispensable advice. As for me, I was immensely pleased with myself.

That being said, I intend to keep today sunny, enjoy the tragedy of being a single parent by introducing Akashiv to his new music teacher who will hopefully be able to make him stay focused for 30 minutes (something many of us successfully fail at, unless he is dancing with us of course), and pray to heavens and what ever else up there,  that he would not smash anything in her house which I cannot afford to compensate.

And yes, if you are reading this, thank you for the flowers, and the photos! I like my non-extravagant self being captured over my morning coffee and mails, (even when not voluntarily, though I seem happy)  to remind the world that I am a tragedy, by all means, but they might have to deal with it, till I decide to be otherwise! (it being me of course!)

_LIM4720.JPG

 

Protected: Signs You Probably Are in a Relationship

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by vositha in Random Moments of Life, Relationships

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Tags

irrational behaviour, relationships

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Boredom

08 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by vositha in Random Moments of Life, Relationships

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

boredom, moving on, rainy evenings, relationship

boredom

Boredom sinks in. As usual. You vicious thing!

The same story. The same conversation. Pretentious attentiveness, on a downhill journey. A slow one. Not fast enough to kill the boredom. Not too slow to go unnoticed.

I lose track, of words and sentences. Mere words flashing in front of the eyes, no relation, no attachment.  One sided affection. A deep hollow. Felt. Ignored.

Facilitative, to walk way. To move on. To forget. To untangle the knots, wilfully created.  Erase that attempted smile, repeated compliments, and questions left unanswered.

I look to the sky, on a rainy day. Grey, rain drops filled, falling at their own pace.

I wonder where you are, whether you miss those tantrums, or prefer the boredom of your life. The peace, the silence, minus my voice.

Far away,  on a rainy/ a sunny day.

Closure

02 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by vositha in Relationships

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

break-up, closure, love, moving on, relationship

closure

A read though all the good mornings, the good nights, and the nastiness of the last emails. Not ignoring the thin line between love and hate, one that is fine, hurtful nevertheless.

I read, I delete.

Memories of happiness, at times pain, sometimes affection hidden somewhere within. Delete, one by one. Read, delete. Not relive, not relapse. Delete.

If memories could be reset, days adjusted then erased. Minds changed.  One by one. Each message at its turn.  Mails, photos of smiles disappear. You hugging me close, making faces at goodbyes captured. Flashbacks of happy mornings, diners in silence, moments without fights or arguments. Delete. Move on to another.

Closure with a cold bath of nastiness, unexpected, maybe least expected. Memories flash, tears held back, pretending all’s fine. Moving on, moving on to other things. Life, love, worries for health, issues of displacement, dislocated hips and migration.

Done, deleted. Closure.

Hopeful.

“He’s good to me,” I tell, myself.

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