Taking Action Together for Resilient Mountain Communities in the South Caucasus

*This article is an abridged version of the original event article on the Sustainable Caucasus website. Please note that references have been removed. For more detail and resources, please see the original article.

About the meeting:

Climate change impacts are felt across the South Caucasus, making regional adaptation dialogue very important!

UNEP and Sustainable Caucasus hosted an interactive regional meeting in Tbilisi on 5-6 December 2022 to support regional collaboration among South Caucasus countries for climate adaptation planning and action.

The meeting was attended by the Regional Director of Cooperation of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Ms. Danielle Meuwly Monteleone, scientists, practitioners, and government representatives from the three South Caucasus countries, as well international experts from the Mountain Research Initiative and the Regional Initiative Group (RIG).

The RIG is formed based on national alliances in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia (National Initiative Groups — NIGs) comprised of scientific, civil, and private organisations interested and working in the fields of Disaster Risk Management (DRM), Sustainable Mountain Development (SMD), and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA). The RIG aims to promote evidence-based policy and decision-making in CCA, DRM, and SMD throughout the Caucasus.

Meeting outcomes:

During the event, participants exchanged information on the Adaptation at Altitude programme, transboundary climate change risks as well as concrete solutions in the region, needs and opportunities for the transfer of mountain adaptation solutions, and updated on adaptation planning and implementation in the three countries.  The RIG members introduced two policy briefs  “Regional Adaptation Policy”  and “Data Management” and held active discussions about advocacy on the regional level.

The event served as an important step forward to strengthen a regional approach and dialogue for climate change action in the South Caucasus.

The meeting was supported by the Adaptation at Altitude (A@A) Programme and Strengthening the Climate Adaptation Capacities in the South Caucasus (SCAC) project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).