State and Trends in Adaptation Report 2020

The State and Trends in Adaptation Report 2020 is the first in a series that will assess progress on climate adaptation and provide guidance and recommendations on best practices in adapting to the effects of a changing climate and building resilience to climate shocks.

The report highlights the many successful adaptation initiatives with the potential to be scaled up and replicated. It also flags key policy, skills and finance gaps that must be addressed if adaptation is to be effective and reach those who need it the most.

Compiled in the first year of Covid 19's spread, the report examines the intertwined consequences of the pandemic and climate change, including the extra challenges imposed by the pandemic to community actions on adaptation projects and responses to threats such as floods and wildfires. The report highlights how smart adaptation strategies can contribute to better health outcomes, environmental benefits, and economic recoveries and strengthen resilience against future systemic shocks.

  • Regional Overview
  • State of Adaptation
  • Adaptation Finance
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Summary

Covid-19 has ushered in an era of multiple, intersecting systemic shocks, and one of its casualties has been our capacity to adapt and respond to escalating climate risks. Investments in climate adaptation fell in 2020, even as more than 50 million people were affected doubly, by both the COVID-19 pandemic and a record number of foods, droughts, wildfires and storms. The pandemic is eroding recent progress in building climate resilience, leaving countries and communities more vulnerable to future shocks. We must make up for lost ground and lost time by accelerating action on climate adaptation and resilience. Climate change did not stop because of Covid-19, and neither should the urgent task of preparing humanity to live with the multiple effects of a warming planet.

Investing in climate adaptation is the best response to our triple health, economic, and climate crises 2021 begins with renewed hope. With vaccines to stem a deadly pandemic. With an unprecedented global effort to repair the economic damage. And with renewed faith in science and the power of collective action to find solutions to global problems.

This Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) report on State and Trends in Adaptation 2020 examines in detail the intertwined effects of the pandemic and climate change, and analyzes how these affect the prospects and ability of countries to recover better. In particular, the report highlights how smart adaptation strategies can contribute to better health outcomes, environmental benefits, and economic recoveries, and strengthen resilience against future systemic shocks.