600 local decision-makers in 20 provinces to learn about adaptation strategies 

Ankara, 30 July 2024 – As cities swelter through some of the hottest days in world history and climate-driven forest fires and typhoons ravage vast territories around the globe, decision-makers everywhere are looking urgently for ways to climate-proof their communities. How to keep people cool when temperatures soar into the 50s? How to protect newly vulnerable neighborhoods from landslides, flash floods and other climate-driven disasters? How to ensure sufficient water supplies to homes, hospitals and hotels in a prolonged drought? How to protect manual laborers from heat stress at work?

To answer questions like these, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has kicked off an ambitious training initiative designed to help regional and local officials, businesses, universities and civil society organizations across Türkiye prepare to meet the threats created by climate change. In climate action, these are known as “adaptation” efforts, which have become all the more necessary given that the “mitigation” efforts designed to reduce the carbon emissions that cause climate change have fallen short. 

“The risks posed by climate change are real and immediate,” said UNDP Resident Representative Louisa Vinton. “This training is thus not a theoretical exercise but rather a very practical effort to put the right knowledge and tools in the hands of local decision-makers tasked with protecting lives and livelihoods from climate threats that we see now every day: excessive heat, droughts, flash floods and forest fires.”

The first in the series of two-day training sessions was held on 30-31 July 2024 in Ankara. Similar sessions will follow in 19 other provinces over the coming 9 months, with the participation of at least 600 local decision-makers. The first day in each session will cover climate impacts and modeling, sectoral adaptation and urban adaptation, with the second day featuring content tailored to the key sectors in each province. In Ankara, for example, the training focuses on the energy, industry and public health sectors. The aim is to make participants aware of local climate risks and identify priority actions to mitigate them.   

The training program is part of a larger €4.2 million project, “Enhancing Adaptation Action in Türkiye,” which is designed to foster societal resilience through enhanced climate change adaptation at both sectoral and urban levels. The project is co-funded by the European Union and the Government of Türkiye and is being implemented by UNDP in close partnership with the Directorate of Climate Change (DCC) under the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change (MoEUCC). 

The other activities conducted under the project include the formulation of an updated National and Urban Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan; the creation of a National Adaptation Platform (“İklim Portal”) to provide technical support for adaptation initiatives; the preparation of climate change impact and vulnerability assessments and urban adaptation strategies and action plans for four pilot municipalities: Konya, Muğla, Sakarya, and Samsun; and support to a parallel €6.8 million adaptation grants program.  

For more information: 

Esra Özçeşmeci, Communications Associate for UNDP in Türkiye, esra.ozcesmeci@undp.org