The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) African Regional Workshop on Adaptation was held at the M Plaza Hotel in Accra, Ghana, from 21-23 September 2006. The workshop aimed at highlighting African concerns related to climate change adaptation and vulnerability reduction, with a view to identifying specific adaptation needs to be considered under the UNFCCC. Sixty participants were in attendance, mainly from Africa, but also from developed countries, as well as representatives from UN agencies and intergovernmental organizations.

The workshop was convened following a request by the tenth Conference of the Parties (COP 10) in decision 1/CP.10, calling for the UNFCCC Secretariat to organize three regional workshops and one expert meeting for small island developing states (SIDS) to enable information exchange and integrated assessments that would assist in identifying specific adaptation needs and concerns. The African workshop is the second of these, following the Latin American workshop that was held in April 2006. COP 10 further requested the Secretariat to prepare reports on the outcome of these workshops, which will be considered by the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) at its twenty-sixth session in May 2007, with a view to making a recommendation on further action to COP 13 in November 2007.

The workshop was structured around four sessions: impact and vulnerability assessments; adaptation planning and implementation; regional collaboration; and outcomes and ways forward. The first three sessions consisted mainly of country presentations followed by a question-and-answer period and open discussion. Session three, on regional collaboration, took the form of two roundtable discussions, while session four, on outcomes and ways forward, consisted of discussions in three breakout groups aimed at identifying key adaptation needs. The results of these discussions were then presented to the workshop. The UNFCCC Secretariat, in collaboration with the respective Chairs of the breakout groups, will prepare a report summarizing the outcomes and recommendations of the workshop. More information.