São Tomé, 2nd June 2022 – The Government of São Tomé and Príncipe, in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), has launched a process to develop a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) to reduce the country’s vulnerability to climate change impacts.
The NAP process aims to reduce society’s vulnerability to the negative impacts of climate change, especially in developing countries, through strategic planning based on projections of future climate change. NAPs are widely viewed as a crucial governance mechanism for adapting to climate change.
To develop the national plan, a 42-month project funded by the Green Climate Fund with over USD 2.9 million was formally launched on 2 June 2022 at an event attended by government ministries, representatives from the United Nations, civil society organizations and local authorities.
The project will support the Government of São Tomé and Príncipe to develop its NAP by building its capacity to implement an integrated approach to climate adaptation planning at all levels and across sectors.
“We hope that the results of this project will be one more tool that the country will have to prepare and adapt to the phenomenon of climate change,” said the Honourable Minister of Infrastructure and Natural Resource Mr Osvaldo Abreru in his opening remarks at the project’s launch event.
“Accessing international funds will help us to put in place coherent and solid programmes that will help the country prepare for the different effects that climate change can create in a country as geographically, economically and socially fragile as São Tomé and Príncipe,” the Minister added.
A crucial aspect of São Tomé and Príncipe’s NAP process will involve strengthening the capacity of the country for adaptation planning by improving the quality and access to climate information and knowledge, and increasing public resources and private investments in adaptation.
São Tomé and Príncipe is already impacted by temperature rise and extended dry seasons, leading to natural hazards such as flash floods, storms, sea-level rise, coastal erosion, and droughts. In December 2021, for example, the government announced a state of disaster after a major storm hit the archipelago, causing extreme flooding.
“This NAP process launched here today symbolizes an important instrument to move from ad hoc project-based adaptation interventions to strategic and programmatic approaches that are supported by a whole-of-government approach,” said Dr Anne Anza, the interim UN Resident Coordinator for São Tomé and Príncipe.
“Over the next 42 months, [this process] will produce a cost-effective adaptation strategy for the country that will address adaptation challenges in the medium- and long-term.”
Mr Fausto Neves, the Green Climate Fund’s focal point for the project in the Ministry of Planning and Blue Economy , emphasized “this project is of great importance to our country at this time, as São Tomé and Príncipe is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change.”
Neves added: “We hope that with the results this project intends to achieve…. we may, in a few years’ time, be better able to address the country’s weakness in relation to climate change.”
For more information about the project (officially titled Reducing The Vulnerabilities of São Tomé and Príncipe to the Impacts of Climate Change by Strengthening the Country’s Capacity to Implement an Integrated Approach to Adaptation Planning), please contact Eva.Comba@un.org
