How can we facilitate coordination and coherence to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience?

A UN Environment report, published on 25 January 2018, highlights the need for “unprecedented levels of coordination and coherence” in order to face twenty-first century challenges of global warming, increased carbon emissions and weather-related disasters.

The report sums up the views of experts who met in Bonn, Germany, and explains the need for an integrated and coordinated approach to tackle the effects of climate change and build resilience.

The Sendai Framework and the Paris Agreement highlight the need for coordinated, global, political efforts and a commitment to an annual spend of USD $100bil to support reducing vulnerability and enhance resilience around the world.

Commitment, alone, is not enough. In order to be effective, policy and spending should be informed by knowledge. Good practices such as ecosystem-based approaches – for example, re-wetting peatlands or installing blue-green infrastructure – should be refined and lessons learned shared across borders.

In addition, the interconnectedness of climate and disaster-related challenges needs considering. Current challenges such as immigration, poverty and gender issues could – and arguably should – be considered when planning for climate adaptation and SDGs.

A comprehensive, integrated and coordinated approach to tackle the impacts of climate change requires widespread collaboration, built on common understanding and shared experience. Bax & Company is well-versed in building such alliances and has facilitated strong, global partnerships across a variety of industries.

A prime example of a consortium Bax & Company helped to build is the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation (GCECA) comprising a worldwide network of NGOs, countries, cities, governments, financial institutions, knowledge centres and private businesses, including (but not limited to) UN Environment, Global Environment Facility, World Resources Institute, Oxfam International and World Wide Fund for Nature.

GCECA Strategic advisor, Dr. Sebastiaan van Herk stressed the need of the report, “unprecedented coordination and integration need to be well-informed and well-guided; we strive to mobilise all stakeholders to provide the excellence for that.”

The Centre creates value from Science and Technology by accelerating effective climate adaptation, by forming thematic groups on issues, such as finance or infrastructure, and mining portfolios for lessons.

Bax & Company facilitated the building of GCECA’s global consortium by building relationships and formalising partnerships, developing its business and organisational model, drafting its first working programme and strong communications.

GCECA is one of many multi-stakeholder projects that Bax & Company is involved in that aim to build a more resilient and sustainable world.

Bax & Company is well-versed in building such alliances and has facilitated strong, global partnerships across a variety of industries.
Picture thanks to UNFCCC

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