Development and Climate Days 2021 took place virtually during the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on the 9 and 10 November 2021, bringing together grassroots representatives, researchers, development practitioners and policymakers from all over the world to discuss how to build a climate-resilient future for all.
D&C Days is an event that provides a space for networking and exchange, and for honest and open discussions on cutting edge climate work with the goal of enhancing understanding of climate risk and creating accessible and actionable strategies for climate resilience.
What is different about D&C Days 2021?
D&C Days 2021 focussed on contributing to the debate on enhancing ambition and action to meet the Paris Agreement commitments. Partners worked together to create synergies around international events and build on the call for action on climate resilience and adaptation. They brought a wealth of experience and expertise gathering at D&C Days to draw from, in order to influence the ‘Ambition Mechanism’ processes under the UNFCCC and the Global Stocktake of collective progress toward achieving the Paris Agreement and its long-term goals.
The mode of discussions at D&C Days 2021 pushed for moving away from business as usual discussions and challenged participating organisations to focus more on transformational approaches, mechanisms and outcomes that contribute to increased climate actions. The sessions were informed by evidence based cases, focused on coherence in climate action, learning from lived experience, promoting innovative approaches, gender equality as well as accountability and transparency in climate action and ensuring that no one is left behind.
The messaging from D&C Days was used to continuously inform ongoing discussions and outcomes, including but not limited to: the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, the Climate Action Agenda, advancing the GCA recommendations from the report and the action tracks, and the Community Based Adaptation Conference 2022. All these processes aimed to support investment and implementation of more ambitious climate action by both State and non-State actors.
- To hear more about D&C Days, search #DCdays21 on Twitter.
- See previous D&C Days
- See everything that happened at D&C Days 2019
- Read the history of Development & Climate Days
D&C Days 2021 – moving to a new format
D&C Days 2021 was a virtual conference that brought together participants from all over the world to connect via our bespoke event platform.
The aim was to make D&C Days accessible to all – not restricted to only those with access to the UNFCCC COP26. We wanted to build on the opportunities participants may have had to make connections with others at COP26 online and in person. We wanted to create a digital space that allowed participants to continue to harness these connections, expand their knowledge and continue to be a place to think out of the box.
Key messages and themes
D&C Days 2021 focused on five ‘evidenced themes’ that we had built on since 2019. These themes provided the backbone to the programme, with conference sessions strategically linked to one or more of the following.
- Building resilient agriculture and food systems
- Early warning, early action to leave no one behind
- Financing a resilient future
- Establishing resilient cities and infrastructure, and
- Working with nature to build resilience.
Themes: five pathways to a climate-resilient future
1. Building resilient agriculture and food systems (led by FAO/GRP)
Transformative actions are urgently needed within agriculture and food systems to tackle the colliding climate, biodiversity, pandemic and food crises. From smallholders to large agri-food businesses, field to fork, climate resilience actions must be just and include the entire food value chain.
This theme will explore food governance, locally-led climate and nature-friendly solutions, access to climate finance for the most vulnerable, and risk management capacities for building climate-resilient agriculture and food systems.
2. Early warning, early action to leave no one behind (led by RCCC)
Early warning early action (EWEA) is key to reducing the impacts of natural hazards, weather extremes and climate change more generally.
Recognising that too many people are left behind by global, national and subnational efforts to build EWEA systems, this theme explores how we can improve the framing, governance, financing and flexibility of EWEA to build equitable and effective disaster risk reduction locally and at scale.
3. Financing a resilient future (led by IIED)
Climate finance must address the demands of poor women and men at the frontline of climate impacts. This theme examines this demand side local focus combined with the need for a supply of climate finance provided by a combination of external financing, including debt restructuring linked to climate, as well as domestic public finance and private finance.
We will bring together key stakeholders from government, civil society, the private sector and international organisations to make commitments on how they can together finance a climate-resilient future.
4. Establishing resilient cities and infrastructure (led by IIED)
For the first time in the history of the planet most of the world is urban and cities are at high risk of experiencing the impacts of climate change.
Sessions in this theme examine how different shocks and stresses, such as those from COVID-19, and climate interact, showcase ways of forging novel partnerships and collaborations for enhancing resilience, and demonstrate innovative approaches for supporting adaptation to extreme heat – a major hazard increasingly impacting our cities.
5. Working with nature to build resilience (led by IIED/IFRC)
This theme explores the importance of working with nature to build resilience now and in the future, in the face of climate change.
As support for and uptake of nature-based solutions in climate policy and practice grows, we will look at widely shared challenges and opportunities faced by local organisations working in forest and farm landscapes to strengthen resilience, and specific contexts of climate-related hazards, such as droughts and floods.
