Where We Work

While Africa is the continent that contributes the least to greenhouse gas emissions, it is among the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change.

Increasing temperatures and extreme weather events are threatening the health and safety of rapidly growing populations, alongside the continent’s biodiversity and ecosystems. Climate change also adversely affects agriculture and is among the key drivers of food and water insecurity, with approximately 1 in 3 people across the region currently facing water scarcity.

As climate change impacts are putting development gains at risk, governments across the region are calling for further investments in order to build climate resilient lives and livelihoods while setting countries up on a more ambitious development pathways that is inclusive and low-emission to avoid even further impacts in the future.

Across the region, UNDP is promoting transformative climate action to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience. Its support draws upon an extensive portfolio of expertise across energy, forests, water, agriculture, health, youth, finance, governance, green jobs, and gender equality. It also supports access to climate data to better inform policies and strengthen disaster preparedness.

African nations are committed to a resilient and green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes investment in ecosystem restoration, green value chain development and climate smart agriculture, which could translate into renewed opportunities for green jobs creation and youth employment.

The Arab States region has the most water insecurity and highest dependence on food imports in the world. Some of its economies are heavily reliant on oil, while also boasting some of the highest potential in renewable energy, particularly solar.

Temperatures across the region are rising faster than the world average. By 2100, the region could be affected by a scorching 5°C increase in average temperatures above pre-industrial levels, which would further deteriorate food and water security and exacerbate poverty and displacement.

While the region is known as the world’s oil capital, it also hosts the world’s highest levels of solar radiation. Over the past decade, the region saw a ten-fold increase in renewable capacities, now hosting some of the world’s largest solar facilities.

In recent years, climate security has risen high on the agenda in the region, as the impacts of climate change now converge with trends of conflict and displacement. As a result, across the region, the climate crisis is increasingly seen not as an environmental priority alone, but also as a priority for sustaining peace and security and ensuring no one is left behind.

Adaptation measures, such as improving the resilience of communities in fragile and crisis contexts, and a new focus on mitigation actions such as improved waste management and the application of nature-based solutions, indicate that governments in the region are applying integrated approaches in their responses to the climate crisis.

Across the region, UNDP is helping put in place policies to better manage the converging risks of conflict and the climate crisis, expand the use of early warning systems, adapt food and water systems, and strengthen the resilience of communities.

The Arab States region hosts some of the world’s highest potential for solar energy solutions, which can be harnessed to power a shift beyond the oil-based development model towards a clean, technology-driven economy that generates employment and leads on knowledge.

With the largest population in the world, the Asia-Pacific region faces severe climate vulnerability. At the same time, with high emitting and vibrant economies, the region also offers the largest mitigation potential.

Based on climate trends and projections from the latest IPCC report, Asia and the Pacific will experience more heat extremes, marine heatwaves, erratic rainfall, and rising sea levels. The report reinforces that Asia and the Pacific is one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on people’s lives and livelihood, especially the poorest and marginalized populations.

According to UN ESCAP report, in 2020, countries in the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 76% of global coal power generation capacity and 94% of planned expansion – with just five of the largest economies accounting for 80% of global coal pipeline. This signals a significant climate change mitigation potential in the region through accelerated transition to clean energy, at scale.

UNDP is advocating for policies that promote inclusive net-zero development pathways, enhance resilience against the impacts of the climate crisis, and integrate climate actions into COVID-19 green recovery. Many countries in the Asia and Pacific region, especially LDCs and SIDS, are expressing their net-zero ambitions. A few countries have already embarked on a process to develop roadmaps/strategies, as well as underlying policies to support the realization of these ambitious net-zero goals.

To build resilience and scale up adaptation, with UNDP’s support countries have been making closer linkages and synergies between their NDCs and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

The Asia-Pacific region has several of the higher-emitting developing countries that are part of the G20, providing an opportunity to substantively boost global ambition through strengthening national climate actions that shift away from carbon-intensive economies.

The Europe and Central Asia region features many energy-intensive and energy-inefficient economies, while also facing severe risks due to climate impacts on the population.

Despite having excellent potential for renewable energy, the region remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels, due to outdated infrastructure and lack of investment. A shift towards renewable sources of energy, while also identifying additional opportunities for reducing emissions would greatly contribute to the world’s effort to keep warming to safe temperatures.

In recent decades, severe natural disasters caused by shifts in temperature and precipitation (floods, droughts, wildfires) have become a lot more frequent across the region. Temperatures are also spiking, causing dangerous heat waves that threaten human lives and natural ecosystems. Enhanced adaptation measures are needed to increase the resilience of communities against the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Governments in the region are working to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation measures into their efforts to sustain economic development and reduce poverty.

Across the region, UNDP is advocating for policies that promote low-carbon development and enhance resilience against the impacts of the climate crisis. From promoting clean energy and the circular economy to enabling the creation of green jobs and the conservation of ecosystems, UNDP’s work is supporting climate action as a driver for sustainable development.

Ensuring a just transition to low-carbon development is receiving significant attention across countries in the Europe and Central Asia region. This could translate into a valuable opportunity to place women, youth, and marginalized communities at the centre of more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable development pathways.

* References to Kosovo are to be understood in the context of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)

In Latin American and the Caribbean, climate change is increasing impacts on food and water security, threatening development gains, pushing people to migrate, and exacerbating issues connected with inequality.

Climate change is impacting every corner of the region. Central America and the Caribbean are being hit with increasingly intense hurricanes, that lead to economic losses and a surge of migration out of the hardest-hit areas. Many coastal communities in the small island Caribbean states face an additional, increased threat from rising sea-levels that could result in the loss of infrastructure, livelihoods, and natural resources.

An increasingly degraded Amazon Rainforest is now most likely a net contributor to warming of the planet, and a potential hotspot for future pandemics. In addition, increasing GHG emissions are also associated with local pollution problems that are seriously affecting the health of the poorest, especially in urban areas, caused mainly by the transport sector growth.

At the same time, countries in the region are leading the way on low-carbon development, seeing it as an opportunity to increase the long-term well-being of their citizens.

Across the region, UNDP is supporting countries to improve their climate governance and take ambition action in a range of areas, including: adaptation and resilience, innovative nature-based solutions, energy and energy transition, forests, food and water security, gender, blue carbon and oceans, climate finance, carbon markets, just transition and green jobs, and private sector engagement.

UNDP has also provided support to strengthening locally led adaptation processes, integrating the voices, knowledge and leadership of indigenous communities, women, and most vulnerable communities to take climate action. It has also played a key role in building capacities and policies for the increased involvement of the private sector.

The region is rich in biodiversity and is playing a key role within the vanguard of the green movement. Land use change is a key sector for GHG emissions in the region, where nature-based solutions, such as mangrove and wetland restoration projects, are key for cutting back emissions and reducing climate impacts -- leveraging the wealth of biodiversity and knowledge in the region.

Initiatives are focusing on protecting coastlines, forests, and watersheds, and building climate-resilient livelihoods for those who depend on the natural environment and its resources for their survival.