Presentation by: Achala Abeysinghe 3.3 Governance and coordination The session will discuss how countries can maintain national leadership and coordination of adaptation efforts at all levels and to act as the main interface with regional and international mechanisms. It will introduce key considerations for the creation and/or enhancement of mandate for the process to formulate and implement NAPs at the national level, and further look at the experiences from countries.

1. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 1
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017Author name
Date
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2016
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
Senior Researcher/ Team Leader
Global Climate Law, Policy and Governance
International Institute for Environment and Development
Session organized by the LEG and IIED
NAP Expo
11 – 15 July 2016, Bonn, Germany
Mandate for the process to formulate
and implement National Adaptation
Plans

2. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 2
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017

3. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 3
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
Previous discussions
• Session on 11th Monday
• Lessons learnt from: Benin, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Timor-
Leste, Columbia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Jamaica.

4. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 4
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
A mandate is crucial for the following reasons:
• To sustain the adaptation processes beyond the preparation of
plans/documents and project-ised thinking, linking to sustainable
development
• To provide certainty, stability and direction of travel
• Individual agencies may not be able to do adaptation planning on their
own anymore - there is need to engage everyone from government to private
sector, etc.
• Such engagement requires a higher level political decision (i.e. a mandate)
to enable all stakeholders to feel part of adaptation action
• Adaptation is now a universal concept happening everywhere, not only for the
LDCs but throughout the whole world including in developed countries, and we
need to systematize how we do it

5. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 5
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
NAP Mandate: Purpose
• To establish clear responsibilities for government agencies (coordination,
reporting, etc.) and all other stakeholders;
• To specify key actions, milestones and outputs of the whole NAP process
over the next planning cycle (typically 5 years) - can be for longer to cover
the medium- and long-term planning approach)
Within a country, the process for the development and implementation of NAPs will
vary, and will be driven by national circumstances hence mandates and institutional
arrangements can also be vary.

6. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 6
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
General Understandings
However
A NAP mandate should not be a prerequisite for countries to get funding
• The NAP process is a nationally determined process, the nature and the
content of a mandate depends on country circumstances (some countries
may require adequate regulatory frameworks in place, whereas others
may need to create such arrangements as next stage of the NAP
process,)
• A mandate can take a long time to put in place. Work on the NAP
process should therefore not wait for a mandate to be put in place hence
some countries are continuing their NAP process without a mandate.

7. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 7
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
Form of a Mandate: Examples
• An act
• Directive
• Decree
• Executive order
• Policy issued by the national government to guide action
on adaptation.

8. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 8
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
Examples of national institutions and
mandates to work on adaptation
Country Agency/Unit Mandate
Benin
Ministry of Environment, Housing and
Urbanization and the National Committee on
Climate Change
Governmental Decree
Bhutan Environment Commission and the Secretariat
Mandate from National Environment
Protection Act
Philippines Climate Change Commission Joint Congressional Act
Timor-Leste National Directorate for Climate Change
Ministerial directive and a Decree law
approved by the Prime-Minister
Spain
Spanish Office for Climate Change - Ministry of
the Environment
Royal Decree
USA
Environmental Protection Agency Executive Order
UK Committee on Climate Change Parliamentary Act

9. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 9
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
Key features of a possible mandate
High level - such as a national legislation that is implemented through
different instruments at sectoral level for implementation.
Should provide guidance for the overall NAP process
Key responsibilities and the coordination mandate should be given to
a high-level authority related to climate change
Clear objectives should be defined in the mandate

10. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 10
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
Elements to be included in the mandate
• Institutional arrangements for implementation
• Clear roles and responsibilities
• Coordination framework
• Indicative timeline
• Means of implementation (finance, technology and capacity building)
• Instructions on how the formal outputs would be processed and approved

11. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 11
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
Elements to be included in the
mandate
• Reporting instructions on the outcomes of the NAP process over
time for each key stakeholder group (ministries and other entities)
• Knowledge management framework (information, public
awareness and advocacy)
• Scientific and research framework for constant information
resources
• Provisions for periodical review based on latest scientific
knowledge
• Provisions mainstreaming climate change adaptation into sectoral
plans and policies
• M & E framework

12. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 12
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017
The Paris Agreement national ratification process
could be an opportunity for adopting a mandate for
NAP process as well.

13. Mandate for the process to formulate and implement National Adaptation Plans 13
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2017Author name
Date
Dr. Achala Abeysinghe
10/07/2016
Contact:
The Chair
Least Developed Countries Expert Group
(LEG)
leghelp@unfccc.int
Achala Abeysinghe
Achala.abeysinghe@iied.org