This is the fourth edition of the UN Environment Adaptation Gap Reports. Since 2014, these reports have focused on exploring adaptation gaps, characterized as the difference between the actual level of adaptation and the level required to achieve a societal goal. The adoption of the Paris Agreement established a global goal on adaptation of “enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change, with a view to contributing to sustainable development and ensuring an adequate adaptation response in the context of the temperature goal”. As the Paris Agreement is now being implemented, important decisions are about to be made on how to report on, and take stock of, progress towards this global goal. The Adaptation Gap Reports focus on providing policy-relevant information to support such efforts.
The focus of the 2018 report is dual: The first part examines the gaps that exist in a number of areas that are central to taking stock and assessing progress on adaptation, namely the enabling environment as expressed through laws and policies, key development aspects of adaptive capacity, and the costs of and finance needed for adaptation. The second part of the report focuses on the adaptation gap in one particular sector, namely health. Based on the available scientific evidence on climate impacts and health outcomes, the second part provides an overview of the global adaptation gap in health, followed by a specific focus on three key areas of climate-related health risks: heat and extreme events, climate-sensitive infectious diseases, and food and nutritional security.
