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Thematic Area

Climate change and disaster risk

The impacts of climate change are increasingly undermining human wellbeing, livelihoods, and sustainable development efforts, especially in developing countries. As projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, weather-related disasters, and slow-onset impacts such as sea level rise. In addition, climate and disaster risks aggravate existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities of communities and threatens them with food and water insecurity, malnutrition, displacement, diseases, ecosystem degradation, and loss of livelihoods.

To work toward the Sustainable Development Goals and guarantee an equitable, healthy, and prosperous future for today’s youth, it is imperative to address these risks. Risk prevention, reduction, transfer, and retention measures can be part of a robust risk management framework and help communities adapt to climate change or reduce their losses and damages. Possible action areas include creating awareness, building capacities, increasing access to financial and technical resources, innovation and education, reducation, reduction of underlying risk factors through climate-related risk planning processes, and strengthening of disaster preparedness.

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Thematic Area

Oceans and coastal ecosystems

Oceans and major seas cover over 70% of the Earth’s surface. They are home to coastal and marine ecosystems including sand dune systems, freshwater, saltwater, nearshore, coastal, and open ocean ecosystems that provide food for billions of people, sustain livelihoods, act as natural shoreline protection against storms and floods, support tourism opportunities, and maintain basic global life support systems.

Climate change and anthropogenic activities significantly contribute to coastal degradation and the loss of coastal and marine ecosystems. Major drivers of this change include ocean warming and acidification, destructive fishing practices, pollution, population growth, unsustainable tourism, and the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. The conservation and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems requires local, regional, and global action at all decision-making levels. It is important to consider inclusive stakeholder engagement that gives a voice to vulnerable communities and youth and allows them to be active participants in decision-making processes as well as on the ground.

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Thematic Area

Sustainable food systems

Food systems encompass the entire supply chain of food production, from processing to distribution and from consumption to disposal. However, current food systems are by no means ideal. Some of their issues include complexity, high dependency on imports, fossil fuel usage, and fragile interconnections that are vulnerable to shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also market allocation issues, leading to a quarter of food globally going uneaten while nearly a billion humans suffer from chronic hunger or undernourishment.

Regarding climate change, food systems are vulnerable to its impacts while at the same time contributing high amounts of greenhouse gas emissions through agriculture and animal production, deforestation, land-use changes etc. It is vital to transform today’s food systems to become more sustainable, regenerative, and resilient while delivering food security for all communities. Youth can play a huge role in making this transformation a focal point for development processes and work toward better food systems through participatory and inclusive action.

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Cross-Cutting Themes

The Global Youth Forum will also address a number of cross-cutting themes that are relevant for all of the thematic areas listed above: just transition, participation and inclusion, education and capacity-building, means of implementation, and just recovery.
1. Just Transition aims to secure the future and livelihoods of workers and their communities in the transition toward a low-carbon economy and shift to sustainable means of production and consumption, by finding inclusive, fair, just, and long-lasting solutions without creating more challenges or widening the gap of inequality. It involves diversifying local, regional or national economies, building relevant knowledge, expertise and supply chains, providing training or skills development programmes, and offering interim support such as relocation aid and social protection.
2. Participation and inclusion of stakeholders from all levels of society is vital to tackling climate change and designing solutions. Not only are those who least contribute to global greenhouse gasses often impacted the most, they are also underrepresented in decision-making processes. Achieving inclusivity and participation is a two-fold goal: the effects of climate change on the most vulnerable populations must be minimized, and the benefits of climate action must be inclusive, with a special focus on women, indigenous people, and other marginalized groups.
3. Education and capacity-building are essential for people of all ages, especially children and youth, to raise awareness and promote action to address the wide-ranging impacts of climate change. Currently, there is limited access to innovative and effective forms of climate change education to enact change within local and global environments and communities. Capacity building is necessary to ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to train and develop the capacity of stakeholders to engage with climate action and communities in an effective and efficient object-oriented manner. Strategies to build capacity and educate can include media campaigns, programmes within schools, research, extracurricular activities, community-based projects and programmes, and training workshops and initiatives.
4. Means of implementation refers to the combination of financial resources, capacity building, and technology development and transfer as an integral part of implementing the sustainable development agenda. These key elements must be enhanced through global and public-private partnerships. Developed countries in the 2015 Paris Agreement in particular should support mitigation and adaptation efforts in developing countries by enhancing the provision of means of implementation. A transparent and accountable national enabling framework is also a key element of the means of implementation, especially in developing countries.
5. Just recovery is the process of recovering from a disaster or crisis in a just and equitable manner built on socioeconomic, gender, and environmental justice. There are a few primary principles of just recovery that include addressing the root causes of both the crisis at hand and the underlying inequalities and structural issues that worsen the effects of the crisis, redistribution of resources with a focus on supporting marginalized communities, internationalism and building collective responses to crises, strengthening democracy by empowering disenfranchised groups, self-governance on a community level, and ecological restoration. These principles will promote a recovery that ensures resilience in the face of future crises.

Workshop Series on Climate Risk and Risk Transfer

January 18th- 21st 2021
Virtual Event

Workshop Series on Climate Risk and Risk Transfer

January 18th- 21st 2021
Virtual Event

Introduction



The impacts of climate change are increasingly undermining sustainable development and the reduction of poverty in developing countries such as Sri Lanka. In particular, the agriculture sector is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change aggravating social and economic vulnerabilities and compromising food security and livelihoods.

As part of a comprehensive climate and disaster risk management approach, risk finance and insurance solutions can enable more resilient economic development and help protect lives, livelihoods, businesses, public finances, and infrastructure. Climate and disaster risk transfer mechanisms are embedded into a framework of policies related to climate change, sustainable development, and disaster management, including the Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, the National Adaptation Plan process, and the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Key Focus Areas

  • Just transition in the energy sector
    - Key elements to ensure just transition in the energy sector
    - Gaps and challenges faced in integrating aspects and strategies of just transition in the energy sector
    - Institutional structures and role of actors in achieving just transition in the energy sector
    - Entry points and opportunities for integrating just transition into climate policy initiatives and actions
    - Success stories, best practices, and experience sharing on initiatives

  • Ensuring just transition in the food sector
    - Key elements of just transition and their relation to global and local food systems
    - Gaps and challenges faced in integrating aspects and strategies of just transition in the food sector
    - Institutional structures and role of actors in achieving just transition in the food sector
    - Entry points and opportunities for integrating just transition into climate policy initiatives and actions
    - Success stories, best practices, and experience sharing on initiatives

  • Gender, inclusion, social protection, and cross-cutting aspects related to just transition
    - Key cross-cutting aspects related to just transition
    - Interlinks for integration of just transition with climate action and into different climate policy and action processes
    - Impacts of COVID-19 and the role of recovery actions in contributing toward just transition
    - Success stories, best practices, and experience sharing on initiatives

Objectives

Key Focus Areas

  • Increase and deepen the awareness and understanding of the concepts of climate risk management, risk transfer, and risk finance, including agricultural insurance schemes and risk management on the micro and meso level.

  • Gain further input on the roles of different stakeholders such as national and local government entities, financial institutions and other private sector entities, civil society organizations, research institutions, community groups, and youth.

  • Build on the technical capacity of key stakeholders working on the topic of climate risk management, climate risk transfer, and climate insurance.

  • Identify entry points for integrating climate risk transfer mechanisms into national and international policies, plans, and processes and existing infrastructure.

  • Highlight and further explore the role of Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plans, the Warsaw International Mechanism, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

  • Share knowledge, experiences, best practices, and lessons learned.

Agenda

January 18th, 2021, 2:00 PM - 04.30 PM IST

Addressing Loss and Damage through Nationally Determined Contributions

The impacts of climate change affect communities and economies across the globe, causing economic and non-economic losses and damages wherever they exceed adaptive capacities. Through the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, countries can include components on loss and damage and establish national mechanisms and policies to address them. The session will focus on building capacities on the NDC process, the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage, and different ways to integrate loss and damage into climate commitments, evidence-based policies and actions, and comprehensive risk management frameworks.

Dr. Sunimal Jayathunga

Additional Secretary
Ministry of Environment of Sri Lanka

Ms. Vositha Wijenayake

Executive Director
SLYCAN Trust

Mr. Hafijul Khan

Negotiator
LDC Group

Mr. George Wamukoya

Team Leader
African Group of Negotiators Experts Support

Mr. Sandeep Chamling Rai

Senior Advisor - Global Climate Adaptation Policy
WWF International
Climate and Energy Practice

Mr. Sunil Acharya

Regional Advisor for Climate & Resilience
Practical Action

Ms. Viktoria Seifert

Associate Project Manager
Munich Climate Insurance Initiative

January 19th, 2021, 2:00 PM - 04.30 PM IST

Climate and Disaster Risk Management

Climate and disaster risks emerge from the interplay of hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and lack of coping and adaptive capacities. In particular, vulnerable sectors such as agriculture are in need of comprehensive risk management frameworks that take into account different aspects including risk awareness, risk assessments, risk prevention, risk reduction, risk transfer, and risk retention. The session aims to enhance the understanding of climate and disaster risk, discuss risk management strategies, and share experiences and best practices on mainstreaming climate and disaster risk into laws, policies, and actions, including NDCs, National Adaptation Plans, and development plans.

Dr. Sunimal Jayathunga

Additional Secretary
Ministry of Environment of Sri Lanka

Mr. Saber Mahmoud Osman

Head of GEMESA
Global Environmental Management and Economic
Sustainability Advancement Sector

Mr. Arivudai Nambi Appadurai

Director
Climate Resilience Practice, WRI India

Dr. Linda Anne Stevenson

Head of Knowledge Management & Scientific Affairs
APN

Dr. Nafesa Ismail

Programme Officer : Knowledge Management, Science and Institutional
Affairs
APN

Ms. Anoja Seneviratne

Director
Disaster Management Center of Sri Lanka

Mr. George Wamukoya

Team Leader
African Group of Negotiators Experts Support

Mr. Sani Ayouba

Founder and Executive Director
Young Volunteers for the Environment

Ms. Linda Siegele

PhD Candidate
University College London, Faculty of Laws

Dr. Ranjith Punyawardena

Senior Technical Advisor
SLYCAN Trust

January 20th, 2021, 02:00 PM - 04.30 PM IST

Integrating Climate and Disaster Risk Transfer into National Policies and Climate Commitments

Climate and disaster risk transfer and finance are not stand-alone solutions to climate risk but rather elements of a larger climate risk management strategy. Climate insurance and other risk transfer mechanisms have the potential to act as a safety net for vulnerable populations, divert risk away from them, and pool it across communities, countries, and regions. The session will discuss challenges, opportunities, and synergies of integrating risk transfer into national policies and commitments. It aims to enhance the understanding of risk transfer mechanisms as a key instrument to address climate change impacts, build capacities, and share lessons learned in Sri Lanka and across the world.

Dr. Sunimal Jayathunga

Additional Secretary
Ministry of Environment of Sri Lanka

Ms. Sara Jane Ahmed

Finance Advisor
V20

Ms. Anoja Seneviratne

Director
Disaster Management Center of Sri Lanka

Mr. Prakash Bista

Technical Expert on National Adaptation Plans, Nature, Climate and
Energy Team

UNDP

Dr. Khamarrul Azahari Razak

Director
Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Center, Malaysia-Japan
International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Ms. Linda Siegele

PhD Candidate
University College London, Faculty of Laws

Mr. Md Shamsuddoha

Chief Executive
Center for Participatory Research and Development

Dr. Ranjith Punyawardena

Senior Technical Advisor
SLYCAN Trust

January 21st, 2021, 02:00 PM - 04.30 PM IST

Inclusive and Participatory Climate and Disaster Insurance

As a key mechanism for risk transfer, climate insurance schemes can and have been implemented in different sectors and different forms around the world, including indemnity- and index-based schemes, agricultural insurance, livestock insurance, and disaster insurance. While insurance holds great potential to increase resilience, they need to be affordable, accessible, inclusive, and participatory to reach vulnerable communities and address their specific needs in a just and equitable manner. The session will have a strong technical focus on climate insurance schemes and their possible gaps, needs, and opportunities, as well as on best practices from different countries and organizations when it comes to implementing, sustaining, and upscaling insurance.

Dr. Sunimal Jayathunga

Additional Secretary
Ministry of Environment of Sri Lanka

Dr. Jennifer Cissé

Senior Research Manager
Climate Risk Finance and Resilience, Munich
Climate Insurance Initiative

Dr. SVRK Prabhakar

Research Manager & Senior Policy Researcher (Adaptation)
NRE Group,
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)

Mr. Lukas Schönach

Senior Business Developer
Descartes Underwriting

Ms. Linda Siegele

PhD Candidate
University College London, Faculty of Laws

Dr. Ranjith Punyawardena

Senior Technical Advisor
SLYCAN Trust