Building capacities for adaptation planning: moving from needs assessment to action with a multilevel approach

Abstract Impulsouth is an alliance of organizations working collaboratively to increase knowledge and capacities in developing countries to enhance climate action and promote South-South cooperation. The alliance engages in several activities in six countries in Latin America and Africa (the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Madagascar, Niger, Uganda, and Zambia), including virtual training courses for young climate professionals, a solutions lab to tackle key climate challenges, and action-research conducted by national teams in close collaboration with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) national focal points. The goal of this country-specific research is to inform efforts to increase the capacity of each country’s involvement in the Paris Agreement ambition cycle leading up to the UNFCCC Global Stocktake (GST), with a particular emphasis on new change agents (young people and women) and their catalyzing contributions to national climate goals. This paper outlines the findings of the national research teams regarding capacity needs and gaps related to each country’s ability to assess climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and risks with a gender-sensitive approach. The assessment of impacts, vulnerabilities, and risks is the first component of the adaptation policy cycle (APC) under the UN climate change regime and is key to evaluating collective progress toward the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) as part of the Global Stocktake.