Appendix B

Appendix B:    Adaptation Policy Contexts

 International Context

The Paris Agreement 2015 (set within the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)), was ratified by Ireland on 4th Nov 2016, and it is aimed at:

• limiting global warming to less than 2.0 C above pre-industrial level and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C; and
• building resilience and increasing the ability to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The agreement requires all the parties to formulate and implement National Adaption Plans.

One of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG No 13) calls on countries to ‘take urgent actions to combat climate change and its impacts’ and to integrate effective Climate Action measures into national policies.

European Context

The 2013 EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change encouraged all Member States to adopt comprehensive adaptation strategies. It sought for better informed decision making through the identification and addressing of gaps in knowledge about adaptation. The European Climate Adaptation Platform, Climate-ADAPT, was developed as a resource mechanism to help users access and share information on adaptation.

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy is a voluntary, bottom up, approach for cities and local governments to combat Climate Change and move towards a low emission, resilient society. The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy brought the Compact of Mayors and the EU Covenant of Mayors under one international body in January 2017 incorporating over 9,000 cities and local governments. Cork City Council is a signature party to the Covenant of Mayors.

Sectoral Context

Twelve sectors across seven government departments/agencies which will be developing individual climate adaptation strategies.

Under the non-statutory 2012 Framework, four Government departments prepared draft sectoral plans covering 5 sectors. These plans are:

• Sectoral Adaptation Plan for Flood Risk Management (OPW, 2015);
• Adaptation Planning - Developing Resilience to Climate Change in the Irish Agriculture and Forest Sector (DAFM, 2017);
• Adaptation Planning - Developing Resilience to Climate Change in the Irish Transport Sector (DTTAS, 2017); and
• Adaptation Plan for the Electricity and Gas Networks Sector (DCCAE, 2017).

Government departments must develop statutory sectoral adaptation plans in accordance with the National Adaptation Framework (NAF) and the six-step adaptation planning process described in the May 2018 Sectoral Planning Guidelines for Climate Change Adaptation [39]. These guidelines aim to ensure that a coherent and consistent approach to adaptation planning will be adopted by the key sectors in Ireland.

Actions in completed plans could include those actions that:

• mainstream (integrate) adaptation into key sectoral plans and policies;
• identify and understand the key vulnerabilities, risks and opportunities facing their sectors. This should include major cross cutting risks;
• ensure that plans related to emergencies assigned to a sectoral department as lead Government department under the Strategic Emergency Planning Guidelines are climate-proofed;
• identify and collect information on the costs and benefits of adaptation within their sectors;
• build capacity within their sectors to cope with climate change;
• identify and address key research gaps within their sectors;
• improve co-ordination with the local government sector; and
• develop appropriate monitoring and verification systems within their sectors.