#DeliverTogether: GWPO and the NDC Partnership Celebrate 10 Years of Collective Action

GWPO joins hands with the NDC Partnership to celebrate 10 years of collective action to raise NDC ambition and implementation. Since 2020, GWPO has delivered 16 projects across 12 countries with US$900K funding from the NDC Partnership Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP) and US$1.3M from the NDC Partnership Action Fund, combined with technical assistance from GWP Regional Water Partnerships and GWPO to catalyse over USD$60M in climate-resilient water investments.   

Below, we highlight five stories on how the partnership has helped countries turn climate commitments into action.  

Snapshot of support offered by GWP through the NDC Partnership 

Nepal’s First Gender-Responsive Local Adaptation Plan 

Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPAs) have been Nepal’s main tool for building community resilience to floods, droughts and landslides since 2011. But the data behind them rarely captured how climate impacts differ for women and men. In its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), Nepal committed to ensuring that all 753 local governments prepare integrated, gender-responsive Local Adaptation Plans of Action by 2035. GWP Nepal worked with MoFE’s Climate Change Management Division to develop gender-responsive LAPAs for two model rural municipalities: Chhatrakot and Kaligandaki in Gulmi district, Lumbini Province. 

Panama’s First Coastal and Marine Adaptation Plan 

Panama has around 3,000 km of coastline, and nearly half its population lives in coastal areas. Fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and maritime trade all depend on healthy coasts, yet sea-level rise, coastal erosion, flooding and warming seas are putting communities and ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrass meadows under growing pressure. With NDC Partnership funding of US$105,000, GWP Central America supported the Ministry of Environment (MiAmbiente) to develop Panama’s first dedicated Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the coastal and marine sector, with technical work by Wetlands International Panama.   

El Salvador: Two New Water Financing Tools  

Around 94% of El Salvador lies within the Central American Dry Corridor, and water and ecosystems are central to the country’s adaptation priorities. With USD 218,000 in funding from the NDC Partnership, GWP Central America worked with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) to design economic instruments for water governance in three priority micro-watersheds: the Sucio, San Juan and Tempisque rivers in Cuscatlán and San Salvador.  

The collaboration resulted in practical tools to improve adaptation in El Salvador: governance models, step-by-step tariff calculations, templates for action plans and project profiles, and awareness programmes for schools, farmers, women and businesses.   

Mali: Bringing Climate Priorities to Investors  

Mali’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) investment plan sets out priority programmes spanning energy, agriculture, forestry and sustainable waste management. Like many countries, Mali does not lack ambition, but needs finance to turn well-defined priorities into investments that partners and investors can back. With a USD 88,578 grant from the NDC Partnership, GWP West Africa, working with the Country Water Partnership of Mali, is supporting the Government to organise an international forum to finance those priorities. Below, explore the progress and next steps for the work led nationally by the Ministry of Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development through its Agency for Environment and Sustainable Development.

From Adaptation Plan to Action in Peru 

National adaptation plans succeed when they reach the basins and regions where climate impacts are felt. GWP South America, with NDC Partnership funding, supported Peru in pairing a national risk method with a regional strategy, giving the country the tools to prioritise, plan and finance NAP actions on the ground. 

Specifically, GWP supported the final review and publication of the National Water Authority’s (ANA) Guide for Analysing and Estimating Climate Change Risk in River Basins, to streamline how climate risks are measured across basins. 

At regional level, the learnings from Peru informed updates to the Climate Change Strategy of the Regional Government of La Libertad. 

Through the Global Water Investment Platform (GIP), a G20 Presidential Legacy initiative, GWPO will continue to help Parties advance water priorities in National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and investment programmes towards funded investments.