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Reinforcing technical capacities to address the rising effects of climate change is one of priorities of “EU4Climate” regional project, implemented in Armenia under the Eastern Partnership Framework.
On 18-19 November 2020, the “Webinar on National Adaptation Strategies and Plans” was held within the Project to discuss the experiences of national approaches to climate adaptation planning.
The principal objective of the Workshop was to support policy makers and technical officials in six Eastern Partnership Countries (EaP) to address the adverse impacts of climate change through medium and long-term National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and mainstreaming of climate risks into the sectoral planning processes.
On behalf of the Ministry of Environment of Armenia, Ruzanna Grigoryan, the Head of Department of International Cooperation, stressed the commitment of the Government of the Republic of Armenia towards climate change adaptation planning and implementation for more resilient and sustainable national development.
“The adaptation need, as an integral part of national security strategy, is stated in the Intended National Determined Contribution (INDC). The NAP process will be on a 5-year lifecycle monitoring and evaluation, which will build concurrency between the NDC and NAP, ensuring that the two processes inform one another, and that national interests are accurately represented in both”,- mentioned Mrs. Grigoryan.
During the first session of the Webinar, the Government representatives from six EaP countries briefly presented their national status on NAPs developments, outlining their expectations from the Workshop.
The topics of discussions and presentations during the two-day workshop concentrated on the importance of adaptation and the overview of NAP process, its objectives and UNFCCC requirements, as well as integrating adaptation aspects to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Besides, the assessment results on institutional capacities and technology needs in developing climate change adaptation policies were shared with the participants of the Workshop.
Since Armenia is advancing its NAP development process, Gohar Hovhannisyan, the Project Coordinator of "National Adaptation Plan to Advance Medium and Long-Term Adaptation Planning in Armenia", presented the overview of the Project, focusing on the current status, objectives and compliance of the Project with national development context and strategies. She also briefed on the core values and implementation of NAP Strategy, as well as on principles and coordination mechanism of the national adaptation planning.
The practical session - Exercise on Adaptation Planning, and sharing the results of the Exercise by Country representatives was the conclusive part of the Webinar.
The two-day Workshop served a productive platform to assess similarities and differences between the approaches chosen for translating international guidance into the local context for development of the NAPs. Besides, it facilitated a regional exchange, providing guidance, highlighting emerging best practices and case studies, and presenting tools that policymakers and technical government officials can use towards formulating integrated and evidence-based NAPs.
