Key message
Through prioritizing adaptive water planning and management, countries can build climate-resilient that benefit both people and the planet.
Specific issues
Water is central to the update of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs):
Parties will provide updates to their own Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by COP30 is an important moment in making the case for water’s role in these key documents. Water’s role in adaptation is relevant to both NDCs and to NAPs – many of which will be newly-drafted, as only 76 NAPs and 49 NDCs are currently submitted.
Adaptation priorities to be considered can include:
- Water resource management
- Ecosystems protection and restoration
- Nature-based solutions
- Water supply and sanitation services
- Transboundary water management and cooperation
- Water’s role in support of food, energy and other critical systems
Climate resilient water management underpins effective adaptation
Climate change is felt through water. Most natural disasters are weather-related: storms, floods, droughts. and people experience too much or too little water; water that is too dirty or in the wrong place. As the Global Commission on Economics of Water points out, the global water cycle is out of balance and needs to be restored.
The global climate crisis makes the management of water availability, quality, and access increasingly difficult, demanding adaptation strategies for this scarce and precious resource. Communities will not be able to adapt to climate change without careful consideration of water resources, sanitation and the ecosystems and economic structures that rely on them.
Strengthening resilience to all water-related hazards, ensuring healthy (aquatic) ecosystem, as well as water scarcity is critical for safeguar
Specific messages from COP30
The UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience is the outcome of the two-year Glasgow-Sharm el Sheik Work Program on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and was launched at COP28. The UAE Framework includes water as a priority sector, and over the past year, proposed indicators for water have been developed by a group of technical experts appointed by the UNFCCC. The global water community has supported the development of relevant water indicators, and has also pushed for cross-cutting elements to be included under other thematic priorities, including food systems, health, ecosystems, and infrastructure.
The draft list of indicators was released in September 2025 and will be negotiated by Parties at COP30, with the aim of finalizing no more than 100 total GGA indicators for parties to utilize in their reporting. The Water for Climate Pavilion working group on the GGA is following developments on adaptation indicators and will provide timely updates throughout COP30.
With the conclusion of the UAE–Belém Work Programme on indicators, Parties at COP30 are expected to begin negotiations on a possible new work programme under the Global Goal on Adaptation. The water community urges that any such programme have a dual and balanced focus: first, to ensure that countries are supported to adopt, operationalize, and report against the indicators established under the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience; and second, to advance the equally critical question of how to implement the Framework. This includes building practical pathways for countries to translate the Framework into action, in close coordination with and informed by the mandates of existing UNFCCC adaptation constituted bodies. Only by coupling robust monitoring with effective implementation support can Parties ensure that the Framework delivers meaningful, climate-resilient outcomes for people, ecosystems, and economies.
Water action on adaptation is also being undertaken by non-state actors, for example under the Sharm el Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, and via the COP30 Global Climate Action Agenda. Water management has a dedicated place within the Action Agenda and the Water for Climate Pavilion is recognized as a collaborative initiative within the Granary of Solutions.