A match made in Paris: Adaptation-mitigation synergies in the land sector

Key messagesBoth mitigation and adaptation are of critical importance to the land sector, including forests and people depending on forests.Mitigation and adaptation are ‘two sides of the same coin', but have often been treated separately, which reduces efficiency and effectiveness of policies and measures.Links between adaptation and mitigation are being made in the 2015 Paris Agreement, in the Warsaw REDD+ frameworks and by the Green Climate Fund.Research shows that there are many benefits to considering adaptation and mitigation jointly, for example in REDD+, and that an increasing number of synergistic projects are being implemented on the ground.Capacities to establish programs and projects that integrate adaptation and mitigation remain a challengePolicymakers can identify opportunities for harnessing the synergies between adaptation and mitigation and can also analyse trade-offs and put in place safeguards to reduce or avoid themIncentivizing the necessary research to further elucidate links and trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation will be important.