Outlook on Climate Change Adaptation in the South Caucasus Mountains

Climate adaptation policy The development of adaptation policies to adequately address the challenges of climate change, and its impact on physical infrastructure, the environment, cultural heritage and/or the economy, should be a priority for mountainous countries in the South Caucasus. However, due to a number of reasons Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia still do not have comprehensive climate adaptation policies that include climate change adaptation plans and/or strategies. Nevertheless, all three countries have declared the need for development of NAPs:

includes a section on climate change. Though it is mainly focused on mitigation actions, the law also defines the responsibilities of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection, and states that it is responsible “for organizing measures on climate adaptation and mitigation”. The Law of Georgia on the State Budget for 2014 (Parliament of Georgia 2013b) envisaged preparation, in 2014, of the National Action Plan on adaptation to climate change and implementation of special adaptation measures. The law also outlined the need for specific mitigation actions such as development of the Low Emission Development Strategy (LEDS), specified in turn, under the Cancun Agreements of the UNFCCC. Yet, implementation of adaptation measures was not included in the State Budget of the following year of 2015 (Parliament of Georgia 2014). In 2013, the Parliament of Georgia adopted the National Forest Concept for Georgia (see more details in the section – Sectoral Policy papers) that stipulates the need for adaptation action in the country’s forests. In terms of mountain regions and ecosystems, mountain-related legislation in the South Caucasus countries has been limited to: • The newly adopted Georgian Law on the Development of High Mountain Regions (Parliament of Georgia 2015), which considers only social and economic issues; and • Certain references to mountain regions in the sectoral legislation of all three countries, but again in only a social and economic context. Thus,thecountriesacknowledgetheneedtospecifically address the social and economic development in mountain regions under national laws, but do not consider the need for specific conservation or climate change actions.

Armenia through the Government Decree on Approval of the Action Plan of the Republic of Armenia on Obligations Emanating from a Number of International Environmental Conventions made a commitment to develop a climate change adaptation concept with an ecosystem approach and a NAPA. In April 2015, the government outlined its plan in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) statement, which covered mitigation and adaptation measures using an ecosystems approach. The INDC states that the natural ecosystems approach is pivotal for its adaptation strategy and actions/contributions and a basis for development

Avalanche in Georgia

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