Climate Adaptation – The Forgotten Sibling!

Kruthika Eswaran
Sep 25
4 min read

There have been jokes and stories on the “middle child” syndrome – a sibling whose antics are generally ignored by the parents and, at times, are completely forgotten!

In climate action, climate adaptation falls right in between climate mitigation, and loss and damage. The UNEP defines the terms as follows:

“While mitigation addresses the causes of climate change (like reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation addresses its impacts (like building sea walls to prevent flooding), loss and damage is concerned with the unavoidable and irreversible impacts of the climate crisis.”

Bakau Pasir (Rhizophora stylosa), Photo by: Jennie Tang Yurue, Credit: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/publications-resources/articles/recognising-trees-of-the-mangroves — Bakau Pasir (*Rhizophora stylosa*), Photo by: Jennie Tang Yurue, Credit: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/publications-resources/articles/recognising-trees-of-the-mangroves

Historically, adaptation at major events was generally overlooked, while mitigation received the spotlight. As damages and impacts became irreversible, especially for vulnerable nations, the concept of “loss and damage” also gained prominence.

Climate adaptation involves a range of solutions that countries and communities must develop and implement to address current and future impacts of climate change.

Let us examine how climate adaptation has progressed over the years at major climate conferences, such as the COP:

Early COPs – Where is Adaptation?

The early COPs, like Kyoto 1997 (COP3), focused mainly on mitigation; especially with the release of the Kyoto protocol that legally bound emission cuts.
Adaptation was not completely invisible; instead, it was framed as an aid for the most vulnerable countries, like the LDCF (Least Developed Country Funds) established at the COP7 at Marrakech.
The LDCF also included helping the countries prepare and implement national adaptation programmes of action (NAPs).

Adaptation is Taken Notice Of

The momentum began at COP13 in Bali, where equal importance was given to adaptation, especially with the establishment and adoption of the Bali Action Plan, which comprises four strong pillars – Mitigation, Adaptation, Technology, and Financing.
It was only at COP16 in Cancun that an adaptation committee (AC) was established to promote stronger action on adaptation. Consequently, adaptation was finally separated from response measures. This was further reinforced by the Cancun Adaptation Framework, which catalysed financial support and capacity-building for countries in climate adaptation and also outlined a clear process for implementing NAPs.
Further agreement on the structure, composition, and procedures for the committee, and the activities the AC would undertake, was confirmed at COP17.
The most pivotal moment in the history of climate and negotiations occurred at COP21 in Paris with the signing of the landmark Paris Agreement. Under the agreement, “Article 7 established the global goal on adaptation (GGA) of enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change, with a view to contributing to sustainable development and ensuring an adequate adaptation response in the context of the temperature goal referred to in Article 2”.

Adaptation is Finally in the Spotlight

The Glasgow–Sharm el-Sheikh work programme for the GGA was launched at COP26 in Glasgow to clarify the goal and progress. New financial pledges were made to the Adaptation Fund (over USD 350 million) and the Least Developed Countries Fund (over USD 600 million) to help vulnerable people build resilience to climate impacts.
At COP28 in Dubai, the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience marked a turning point, cementing the framework for adaptation and providing a solid foundation for all future discussions and actions.
There is a consistent stalemate at every COP regarding adaptation finance, with contentious agreements between the developed and developing countries.

With COP30 around the corner, calling for implementation and action rather than further and newer negotiations, all eyes are on adaptation finance.

What and Why is there an Adaptation Gap?

The adaptation gap refers to the difference between the amount of adaptation finance needed and the current adaptation finance flows.

Adaptation finance supports resilience activities, currently dominated by public finance, leading to negotiation deadlocks at COPs. Developing countries seek fair compensation, while developed nations prefer diverse financial flows, including private investment.

Measuring the effectiveness of adaptive solutions is challenging, which deters private sector investment and thereby underfunds adaptation.

Even if we were to reach the Glasgow Climate Pact target of doubling adaptation finance to at least $38 billion by 2025, it would only reduce the adaptation finance gap of $187-359 billion by around 5%.

In addition to the significant financing and implementation required to address the growing impacts of climate change, there is also a need for greater efforts in capacity-building and technology transfer. The call for adaptation has never been stronger than it is now!

What is Singapore doing?

Singapore had the warmest decade ever (2010-2019), along with increasingly heavy rainfall days and rising sea levels. Apart from calling for innovative financial solutions to aid smaller islands in climate action, Red Dot is doing its share of adaptive measures for a resilient future, including coastal protection and flood prevention.

According to the national water agency PUB, a study has proposed building coastal protection structures to create a “continuous line of defence" in low-lying areas such as Changi and the Greater Southern Waterfront.

The proposed measures include three coastal barriers linking Sentosa, Pulau Brani, and the mainland, as well as retrofits to the Marina Barrage and raised coastal protection structures, among other measures.

These will complement the previously announced Long Island on the East Coast to provide a continuous line of defence. Alongside these measures, various institutions are conducting ongoing research and communication to raise awareness and explore other solutions that can improve urban resilience, such as nature-based solutions.

COP30 in Brazil - Adaptation Front and Centre

There has been a positive development in Brazil, ahead of the COP, as it has successfully secured allies for its Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), a multilateral mechanism for funding the protection of tropical forests. The TFFF is expected to be launched at COP30.

To ease the measurement of the progress towards adaptation targets proposed in the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience, parties at the Bonn summit agreed to set about 100 indicators by COP30, down from the then 490. Earlier this month, the UNFCCC finally published the list along with the technical document under the Global Goal on Adaptation and the UAE-Belem work programme. Further negotiations on the indicators will happen at COP30.

Overall, the upcoming COP won't launch “shiny new initiatives", according to Alice Amorim, the programme director, but will assess existing solutions to identify what is happening on the ground and what gaps need to be addressed by financial sector players and policymakers, focusing on Climate Finance and Adaptation.