A match made in Paris: Adaptation-mitigation synergies in the land sector

Abstract

Key messages • Both mitigation and adaptation are of critical importance to the land sector, including forests and people depending on forests. • Mitigation and adaptation are ‘two sides of the same coin’, but have often been treated separately, which reduces efficiency and effectiveness of policies and measures. • Links between adaptation and mitigation are being made in the 2015 Paris Agreement, in the Warsaw REDD+ frameworks and by the Green Climate Fund. • Research shows that there are many benefits to considering adaptation and mitigation jointly, for example in REDD+, and that an increasing number of synergistic projects are being implemented on the ground. • Capacities to establish programs and projects that integrate adaptation and mitigation remain a challenge • Policymakers can identify opportunities for harnessing the synergies between adaptation and mitigation and can also analyse trade-offs and put in place safeguards to reduce or avoid them • Incentivizing the necessary research to further elucidate links and trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation will be important.