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6 Dec 2024

Aligning Water and Climate Policies and Programmes:

Integrating Water into NDCs and NAPs: regional lessons

At Cop 29 in Azerbaijan, the Water for Climate Pavilion hosted a thematic day entitled ‘Watering the NDCs and NAPs. The objective of the day was to boost the existing momentum on integrating water into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), ahead of their due submission by governments in February 2025.  In addition, the thematic day touched frequently on the integration of water into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), which are also due in 2025. 

Many sessions during the day were devoted to lessons learned from different countries and regions with regard to how to strategically ensure that water is well reflected in national climate commitments and plans. Noting the timing of COP 29 to the UNFCCC, just after COP 16 to the CBD in Cali, Colombia and ahead of the COP 16 to the UNCCD in Sudia Arabia, moderator Ivan Sjögren from the Stockholm International Water Institute underlined the role of water as a programme officer international policy  and processes.

SIWI Report: Water in the NDCs
In order to provide some background for the regional reflections, David Hebart-Coleman, one of the authors of SIWI’s study into water’s integration into NDCs presented some of the key findings of the report. The study reviewed 114 countries – predominantly low- and middle-income countries – looking at all measures related to water, including climate mitigation aspects but predominantly adaptation issues. The report found that 85% of the countries surveyed have paid more attention to water related concerns in their NDCs relative to the previous cycle which were submitted by parties in 2015. Water was mentioned more often and was included across a wider range of thematic areas compared to the first round. 

Looking at some of the results, the study shows that there was a very high level of reference to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Similarly in Latin America, there was a high incidence of inclusion of River Basin Planning in NDCs’. In the Middle East and North Africa, there was more focus on technical improvements and investments in infrastructure. Across most NDCs, there was an increased recognition of the role of ecosystems.

To take the example of the inclusion of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in NDCs, 45% of NDCs surveyed mentioned WASH services both in terms of their climate resilience and in terms of the imperative of extending the coverage of and access to services. 64% of NDCs mentioned wastewater, although the emphasis here tended to be more on the role of wastewater in climate mitigation and less about increasing the coverage of wastewater treatment facilities. Perhaps surprisingly, there was less attention for interconnections between water and energy such as the positive impact in energy savings through increases in water use efficiency. Only 16% of the assessed NDCs were found to contain reasonable detail about water-energy interactions.

In the area of ecosystems, close to 95% of NDCs covered in the study included content around ecosystems, biodiversity, Nature Based Solutions (NBS), etc. Some 42% of these has quite significant levels of detail on ecosystems and their role in climate adaptation and mitigation. This was especially the case in Latin American region and the Middle East and North Africa, and less so on other world regions.

Within the topic of climate mitigation, the NDCs showed a strong recognition of the role of water – related ecosystems (especially peatlands and mangroves) as nature-based system which contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.  Wetlands featured in 49% of NDCs and close to 60% of countries with mangrove habitats mentioned mangroves in their NDCs. 

In conclusion, the study found a number of outstanding challenges for the integration of water in NDC’s. The first of these is the lack of integration of water commitments across water dependent economic sectors such as food, energy and health. The second is the limited use of water-related, tangible targets in either mitigation or adaptation, which could be a barrier to securing climate financing in the water sector. Thirdly, there was a general lack of accounting for sub-national contributions, even if some countries did refer to the sub-national level in their reporting. And lastly, there was little reference to water governance: only 12% of countries mentioned water governance as a factor in either mitigation or adaptation policies. A key barrier to integration seems to be the limited accounting for water in mitigation activities, the potential but insufficiently explored application of existing tools such as IWRM or Nexus assessments to guide NDC measures, and the need to use baseline data on water as well as to develop multisectoral measures addressing key climate priorities across the different sectors that are water dependent. 

Regional Trends      
In the regional reflections, it was emphasised that there are no specific indicators or guiding measures for the integration of water into NDCs. Mention was made of the need for regulatory support in this area, as well as guidance on implementation. In documenting the impacts of climate change, it is important that damage to water and sanitation systems be documented as well as to highlight good practices and evaluate different technologies in ensuring that water infrastructure is more climate resilient. 

On the topic of specific indicators guiding measures for integrating water and sanitation into NDCs, it was suggested that the eleven indicators of progress on the implementation of SDG6 are being measured and documented, and this would be an important point of entry for the linkage to NDCs, but the question how this should be done requires further clarification. Also, bringing in NDC’s can be approached from the point of view of leveraging additional investment in the water and sanitation sector. One example is the possibility to issue green bonds to finance sustainable and climate coherent water and sanitation infrastructure.

The topic of participation in NAPs and NDCs was also raised, and the importance was emphasised of developing and implementing both NAPs and NDCs through a consultative process which is not only cross-sectoral but also takes place in consultation with local communities.  Furthermore, it was mentioned that intergovernmental relations or multiscalar governance are important in NAPs and NDCs, so that the contributions of local government, provincial and federal states as well as the national level to NDCs and NAPs need to be well documented.   
   
 

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