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Forestry in national adaptation plans (NAPs) to climate change

XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022

Year of publication 2022

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 9p.

Author Meybeck, A., Gitz, V., Wolf J., Wong, T.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Article

Synopsis (short abstract) Climate change discussions about forests have for a long time focused largely on their mitigation potential. However, the mitigation potential of forests itself depends on their capacity to adapt to a changing climate and increased human pressure. Forests and trees also play a crucial role in the resilience of landscapes and people and their capacities to adapt to climate change. The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process offers an opportunity to better integrate these functions in national strategies and policies. The NAP process was established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010 for least developed and other developing countries to identify and address their medium- and long-term adaptation needs. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) research program of the CGIAR are collaborating to support countries in this regard. Most developing countries had initiated the NAP process and to date 20 countries have shared their NAP. These plans are increasingly linked by countries to the implementation of the adaptation component of their nationally determined contribution (NDC) and used by international funds like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as well as by international cooperation agencies to orient their funding decisions. The objective of this paper is to give some preliminary insights on how forests, trees and agroforestry are considered in published NAPs, draw lessons and propose recommendations to improve the integration of forestry in adaptation planning processes. It considers the main vulnerabilities of forests and trees to climate change, the adaptation options under consideration, and how forestry is integrated in institutional processes, including the integration of forests and trees into agricultural and other sectoral adaptation measures. It concludes with recommendations to improve integration of forests and trees in adaptation planning. Keywords: climate change, adaptation, forestry, agroforestry, national adaptation plan ID: 3480129

Language English

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