Framing the Adaptation Gap

a level that is consistent with the ultimate goal of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), both the risks and the impacts of climate change are expected to increase significantly in coming decades. Adopting a strategic framework for adaptation—with clearer goals and targets—would help set the direction for and track progress on adaptation universally and in relation to the ongoing negotiations under the UNFCCC. In this context, adopting an adaptation gap approach with its focus on targets—as well as on the potential for, and limits to adaptation—could be useful.