Policy context: How does ME of adaptation it within Purpose: What is the purpose of the ME system and Scales: What are the levels of application and Focus: What do you want to monitor? Data and information requirements: What type of data and information I

PREFACE INTRODUCTION Rationale for national ME of adaptation Structure of the Guidebook KEY CONSIDERATIONS: DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL ADAPTATION ME SYSTEMS Before beginning 1. Context

1.1 Policy context: How does ME of adaptation it within

the broader policy and ME environment?

1.2 Purpose: What is the purpose of the ME system and

how do you intend results to be used?

1.3 Scales: What are the levels of application and

aggregation?

2. Content

2.1 Focus: What do you want to monitor?

2.2 Data and information requirements: What type of data and information

do you require to fulill the purpose of the ME system?

3. Operationalisation

3.1 Institutional arrangements and resources: What institutions and resources will

you work with?

3.2 Synthesis: How will you collect and synthesise

the data and information you require?

4. Products

4.1 Outputs and Reporting: What will the products of the

ME system be? NEXT STEPS ANNEX GLOSSARY REFERENCES 7 8 14 16 21 21 24 24 25 29 32 32 36 42 42 44 48 48 50 52 56 57 6 Abbreviations COP Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC CRM Climate Risk Management GEF Global Environment Facility GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ GmbH IIED International Institute for Environment and Development LEG Least Developed Countries Expert Group ME Monitoring and Evaluation NAP process National Adaptation Plan process OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OREDDs Regional Observatories on Environmental and Sustainable Development Morocco PEG Tool Tool for monitoring Progress, Effectiveness, and Gaps under the NAP process developed by the LEG PPCR Pilot Program for Climate Resilience PROVIA Global Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation RREIE Regional Network of Exchanging Environmental Information Morocco SIRE Regional Environmental Information System Morocco SNAP tool Stocktaking for National Adaptation Planning tool GIZ TAMD Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development IIED UKCIP United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 7 PREFACE Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ GmbH and the Least Developed Countries Expert Group LEG initiated the development of this Guidebook. It responds to a to demand from decision-makers working in the ield of adaptation or a climate-sensitive sector who lacked information about ME of adaptation and how it could inform their work. The Guidebook was jointly drafted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development IISD and by GIZ. An Advisory Group comprising representatives from the UNFCCC Secretariat, the LEG and the Adaptation Committee served as reviewers and provided feedback throughout the drafting process. Experts on ME of adaptation as well as decision-makers from developing countries who are working towards implementing adap- tation ME systems have also been consulted. The Guidebook builds on a comparative review of na- tional ME of adaptation in ten countries, jointly pro- duced by GIZ and IISD in 2014 and draws on examples, recommendations, and lessons that emerged from this study. It also refers the reader to relevant resources developed by other institutions working in the ield of adaptation and ME, including: the Climate Technology Centre Network CTCN, Climate Investment Funds CIF, the European Environment Agency EEA, Global Environment Facility’s Independent Evaluation Ofice GEF-IEO, the online community of prac- tice “Climate-Eval”, the International Institute for Environment and Development IIED, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD, Global Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation PROVIA, United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme UKCIP, NAP Global Support Programme NAP-GSP, UNFCCC Adaptation Committee and Least Developed Countries Expert Group LEG, and the World Resources Institute WRI. 8 Actors are pursuing climate change adaptation on differ- ent levels, ranging from household and community level to the international level. Monitoring and evaluation ME is an important part of this process. Monitoring is the systematic and continuous collec- tion of information that enables stakeholders to check whether an intervention is on track or achieving set objectives. Evaluation is a systematic assessment of the worth or utility of an intervention at a speciic point in time, for example whether a policy has been effective in achiev- ing set objectives. ME of adaptation aims to track progress in implement- ing adaptation interventions, andor how these inter- ventions are reducing vulnerability, improving adaptive capacity, and supporting the overall well-being of popu- lations affected by the impacts of climate change. As more and more governments move from raising aware- ness for the necessity of adaptation to developing and implementing adaptation plans and policies—including the National Adaptation Plan process agreed by the par- ties to the UNFCCC—ME of adaptation at the national level is gaining importance. At the national level, adaptation is pursued through policies, planning and investments related to addressing the challenges and potential opportunities that climate impacts are expected to present, or are already present- ing. Governments do this through stand-alone adapta- tion interventions, or by integrating adaptation consider- ations into policy and planning in climate-sensitive sec- tors or overall development planning. For the purposes of this Guidebook, the term “national ME of adaptation” is used throughout, but the considerations and lessons are also relevant for lower-tier administrative levels such as federal states or provinces. Although generally labelled “ME”, a national adapta- tion ME system may use monitoring andor evaluation to different extents depending on its purpose. Figure 1 illustrates how monitoring and evaluation can serve dif- INTRODUCTION 9 Adaptive management, checking wheth- er a policyplan is on track and adjusting the course of action as needed based on ME results. Learning about evolving adaptation context, needs, and experi- ences. Accountability, reporting to stakeholders on progress andor results. Monitoring Evaluation EitherBoth 10 ferent purposes. Monitoring takes place on a continuous basis which is required for adaptive management in order to track progress and determine whether any adjust- ments need to be made. For accountability purposes, both monitoring and evaluation may be used: monitoring can help to conirm whether a planned intervention has taken place, evaluation can help to assess its effective- ness. Similarly, both monitoring and evaluation can serve learning purposes. For more on the purposes of national adaptation ME systems, see consideration 1.2. National ME of adaptation looks at progress towards adaptation in a country: Which achievements have been made in implementing adaptation-related policies, plans, interventions, and investments? And what are the results of those achievements? As interventions on a more local level also contribute to this progress, national ME of adaptation may also need to take into account informa- tion about adaptation that happens at sub-national lev- els Leiter, 2015. For more information on this relation- ship see below, especially consideration 1.3. Figure 2 shows how national ME of adaptation relates to community-based, project, and portfolio ME of adaptation: National ME of adaptation refers to adap- tation progress of a country and can take into account information about what is happening at the more local project and community levels, whereas portfolio ME of adaptation aims to explain how a range of adaptation projects in one or multiple countries are contributing to a common set of objectives. ME of an international portfolio may draw on information from project- and national-level ME, while ME of a portfolio of projects within a single country may feed into national ME of adaptation. National ME of adaptation may focus to varying de- grees on process or on adaptation outcomes. Process refers to advancement in implementing policies, plans or interventions that aim to promote adaptation and or to build institutional and human capacity to do so. Adaptation outcome refers to the changes that result from the implementation of those policies, plans, or in- terventions, i.e. whether adaptation actually takes place. 11 Figure 2: Levels of ME of adaptation Who does ME? What is being assessed? International climate funds, bilateral multi- lateral donors Portfolio ME National ME National governments Adaptive capacity and reduction of vulnerability at the country level, andor how government policies plans interventions are contributing. How a col- lection of projects in one or many countries are contributing to a common set of objec- tives. Adaptive capacity and reduction of vulnerability at the local individual household level and how interventions are contributing Community groups, local government, local NGOs, bilat- eralmultilateral donors ProjectCommunity-Based ME Legend: 12 Figure 3 illustrates how investments of inancial and human resources feed into capacity for and implemen- tation of adaptation interventions, which over time are expected to contribute to adaptation outcomes in the country or region in question. It also illustrates some of the challenges associated with ME of adaptation—see OECD 2014 4 and Bours et al. 2014 1 for more on these methodological issues, which include: the context speciic nature of adaptation and the as- sociated lack of a common metric to measure success such as greenhouse gas reduction can be used to measure success of mitigation efforts; the long timescale over which climate change unfolds; uncertainty regarding the actual impacts of climate change making it dificult to predict what a particular intervention will contribute to achieving adaptation results; intervening factors such as socio-economic change and non-climatic environmental degradation which affect adaptation outcomes and make it dificult to determine whether a change can be directly attributed to a particular intervention, - Figure 3; unavailability of data on the changes to be monitored data may not be available by the time required for ME purposes, or may not have been collected at all if the need for it was not foreseen well in advance. Due to the challenges of directly attributing outcomes to individual actions it is often necessary to focus on demonstrating a plausible contribution of inputs and processes to the achievement of outcomes. Furthermore, when looking at adaptation outcomes and why the ex- pected results were or were not achieved, it is important to identify from the outset assumptions regarding ex- pected climate change impacts. Since climate change affects a broad range of sectors that are crucial for a country’s overall development, such as agriculture, water, health, and infrastructure, adaptation policy and planning involves cross-sectoral integration and integration with development planning and interventions at national and more local levels. This requires involvement of ministries of relevant sectors including those responsible for planning and inance and a strong coordination function. Therefore national ME of adaptation must also operate across sectors and levels and consider integration in or linkages to existing ME structures. 13 LocalProject Level National Level Inputs Adaptation Outcomes Process Demonstrating that capacities are in place to implement a policyplan, and progress in implementation, are directly attributable to a particular intervention. Factors other than climate change are at play, and adaption interventions at local or project levels may also be affecting change. Resources for adaptation interven- tions inancial and human Resources for community- project- based interventions Changes in vulnerability, adaptive capacity, behaviour; progress in development despite climate change Implementing adap- tation policies, plans and interventions, and building capacities to do so Community- project-based interventions Outcomes of local project interventions To demonstrate that implementation of policy interventioninstitutional capacity building contributed to the outcome even if other factors did, too. Attribution Contribution Social change Environmental change Economic change Time Legend: 14 While the involvement of multiple sectors and levels may contribute to complexity, these same factors also help to make the case for national ME of adaptation: Progress on adaptation may be linked with the priorities and poli- cies of a range of actors at all levels. Using information generated through national ME of adaptation strategically can help to build broader politi- cal support for adaptation Price-Kelly Hammill 2015. For example: Sustainable development strategies may be strengthened by incorporating adaptation considerations to promote climate-resilient outcomes. Information from adapta- tion ME systems can show how action on adaptation is safeguarding and supporting development goals. Climate-sensitive sectors may incorporate adaptation considerations into their own strategies and plans, in which case ME of adaptation could help to demon- strate progress and results in sectors that are often pri- oritised, such as agriculture, water, and infrastructure. Using ME data to demonstrate the ability to achieve results on the ground can help building support for adaptation from taxpayers, constituents, andor devel- opment partners. Governments may showcase results on the interna- tional stage, e.g. through National Communications to the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC COP. Development of national adaptation ME systems is therefore becoming more prevalent, and will continue to do so in the context of the NAP process - Box 1. “Reporting, Monitoring, and Review” is one of the four key elements of the NAP process set out in the NAP Technical Guidelines 43 which do not, however, provide details on how to conduct ME. While this Guidebook does not focus exclusively on ME of the NAP process, it addresses relevant issues and points readers to related sections of the NAP Technical Guidelines and other tools that have been designed for monitoring the NAP process. R a t i o n a l e fo r n a t i o n a l M E of a d a p t a t i o n The National Adaptation Plan NAP process The NAP process was established by the Conference of the Parties COP to the UNFCCC under the Cancun Adaptation Framework in 2010. The objectives of the NAP process are: a to reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, by building adaptive capac- ity and resilience, and b to facilitate integration of climate change adaptation, in a coherent manner, into rele- vant new and existing policies, programmes, and activities, in particular development planning processes and strategies, within all relevant sectors and at different levels, as appropriate. B OX 1 15 16 The objective of this Guidebook is to guide decision- making regarding the purpose, design, operationalisa- tion, and use of results of an appropriate system for national ME of adaptation. It provides advice for ME at both national and sub-national levels—sub-national referring here to the level of a state or province or similar jurisdictions rather than more local municipalcommu- nity levels. Indeed it may be useful for any level where adaptation ME is facing similar considerations and challenges. Given its close linkages with the broader development and ME context in a given country, there is no one- size-its all approach to national ME of adaptation: experience shows that decision-makers in different countries have chosen very different approaches de- pending on their speciic contexts Hammill Dekens; EEA 2015. The Guidebook recognises this diversity by guiding the reader through a series of questions for consideration that should be taken into account when designing and implementing an adaptation ME system. The Guidebook does not prescribe a single approach to addressing any of these considerations, leaving it to the reader to select the appropriate course of action in his her context. Those questions are divided into four interrelated “building blocks” illustrated in Figure 4: Understanding the context of the ME system, identifying the content to be monitored, designing a process for operationali- sation, and deciding how to present results through products that will facilitate use. Each building block supports and relates to the others. Context is central to and informs the other pieces of the system. Products of the ME system will in turn feed back into the context, building on or adding to existing ME structures. St r u c t u re of t h e G u i d e b o o k 17 C o n t e n t C o n t ext C o n t e n t O p e r a t i o nalisation Pr oduct 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 18 Concrete examples of different approaches taken by countries who have already developed or are in the pro- cess of developing adaptation ME systems, along with links to full proiles of these systems where available. Recommendations to consider based on national adaptation ME systems which have been developed to date Hammill Dekens 2014; EEA, 2015. A series of speciic questions for consideration, answers to which will help to inform the process of developing and implementing a national adaptation ME system. Points on how these considerations relate to the NAP process are included throughout. For each of these building blocks, the Guidebook provides: Figure 5 illustrates the logic of the Guidebook’s progres- sion through the questions for consideration. You can use the “Questionnaire” in the Annex to make notes on responses and to check whether you have considered all relevant issues. However, the building blocks of an adaptation ME system do not come together in a linear fashion as illustrated in Figure 4, therefore multiple entry points are possible. An answer to one question may inform the answer to another, and many may need to be reconsidered at different stages, as mapped in Figure 6. Reference to relevant existing tools and resources that can help to inform national ME processes. If you are reading this Guidebook on your computer and are con- nected to the internet, the hyperlinks x will refer you directly to the relevant document; if you are reading the printed version, you can ind that document in the list of references under the number x indicated. Example Morocco The case of Morocco’s sub-national Regional Environmental Information System is included at each consideration to demonstrate an entire ME develop- ment process for one country. This does not mean that Morocco’s approach is the only valid one; examples of alternate approaches are also provided at each consid- eration point for further illustration. 19 How does ME of adaptation it within your broader policy and ME environment?

1.1 Policy Context