Climate Change

Program Overview & Vision

Facilitated by PERSGA, the member states are joining their cooperative efforts for sustainable management of the coastal and marine environment to achieve their relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The impacts of Climate Change, however, pose undue challenges that interacts with each aspect of sustainability reflected in the SDGs. Therefore, achieving sustainable development in the region will require appropriate, effective, coordinated and continued actions to help adaptation and climate security. This is chiefly important for coastal and marine environments, which are projected to be most affected by Climate Change as projected by the IPCC reports. On the other hand, marine ecosystems offer several cost-effective options for adaptation, as well as mitigation co-benefits in the region. Due to adjoining nature and connectivity of coastal ecosystems throughout the region, the consistency of national and regional policies and the resultant harmonized efforts will increase the effectiveness and scale up ecosystem based actions for the entire region.

Established since 2008, PERSGA CCP executes multilinked interventions that cover a wide level ranging from local, national and regional activities and initiatives in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region. The program interventions mainly supports and facilitates vulnerability assessments and studies, coastal and marine adaptation planning, capacity building, regional coordination and on-the-ground projects, which focus on adaptation to the impacts of Climate Change and building resilience of the marine ecosystems and coastal communities. The program puts special emphasis on ecosystem based actions, pursuing Ecosystem Based Adaptations that address adaptation measures based on the key marine ecosystem (coral reefs, mangrove and sea-grass); and Ecosystem based Mitigation that centers on the role blue carbon habitats (mangroves, seagrass, and coastal wetlands) in the region.

Strategic Components

Based on its vision and approach, PERSGA-CCP has developed a framework for its interventions and activities, focusing on five strategic and objective-based components, which address the following priorities for coastal and marine environments in the region:

Supporting coastal/ marine vulnerability assessments, and development of appropriate adaptation policies and planning;
Building institutional and technical capacities to implement climate policies and actions related to coastal and marine environments;
Promoting awareness on Climate Change issues and its impacts on coastal and marine environment;
Strengthening regional coordination and collaboration in climate actions, information and knowledge sharing;
Building marine ecosystem resilience and integration of marine ecosystem-based actions in national and regional climate policies;