BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Driven by the governments of Rio de Janeiro and Catalonia, RegionsAdapt was launched at COP 21 in Paris. Regions4 coordinates this initiative that now encompasses more than 70 signatory regions from five continents impacting over 300 million citizens.

RegionsAdapt mobilizes ambition and action on climate adaptation by facilitating access to the latest innovations, tools and best practices at regional level throughout the world. Through knowledge sharing, capacity building, adoption of common standards, and contribution to the global processes, this unique regional partnership catalyzes innovation on climate adaptation, fosters cooperation and supports regional governments improve their resilience.

By joining the RegionsAdapt initiative, governments commit to:

1. Develop a vulnerability risk assessment that includes all vulnerable communities
2. Prioritize and plan, adopting an adaptation plan or programme (mainstreaming adaptation into other sectors and/or policies) within the first two years of joining.
3. Implement concrete actions on adaptation in key identified priority areas : Water resources and management ; Resilience and disaster risk reduction ; Agriculture andzootechnics ;  Forestry, protected areas and biodiversity ; Infrastructure (including transportand energy) and territorial planning ; Economic impacts and opportunities ; Social adaptation andimpacts.
4. Report annually on their adaptation progress through the CDP Online Reporting Platform to inform progress on their commitments to the Race to Resilience and improve policies and actions

REGIONS’ LEADERSHIP IN CLIMATE ADAPTATION

Regional governments have a critical role to play in addressing climate change and ensuring concrete results of adaptation actions. They:

• Have close and direct contact with citizens and are aware of the main challenges facing their territories, which allows them act together with inhabitants to implement proper and game-changer measures to build resilience.
• Are key on fostering urban-rural linkages for effective integration of adaptation policies and sustainable development.
• Promote an integrated territorial approach to enhance synergies between different sectors and stakeholders.
• Have strategic competences on areas linked to climate policy such as energy, transportation and the build environment.
• Are able to create strategic and powerful synergies with other regions in order to exchange knowledge and key initiatives on adaptation.
• Are already leading in climate adaptation and collaborating with their National and local counterparts, facilitating multi-level governance for effective climate action.

You can read the full RegionsAdapt Leaflet here: EN / ES /FR

OFFICIAL PARTNER OF THE RACE TO RESILIENCE CAMPAIGN

RegionsAdapt, as proud partner of the Race To Resilience, is the the official platform to engage states and regions in the Race to Resilience, a global campaign led by the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action High-Level Climate Champions , to catalyse action by non-state actors that builds the resilience of 4 billion people from vulnerable groups and communities to climate risks, by 2030.

When regional governments engage with the RegionsAdapt initiative, they demonstrate their leadership in becoming part of the global solution to tackle climate change and automatically become part of the UNFCCC Race to Resilience. 

Learn more about the campaign and how to join on our Regions Race To Resilience page!