GCA and World Trade Organization sign Memorandum of Understanding to consolidate cooperation around trade and climate adaptation
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otterdam, the Netherlands, 5 September 2022 – The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to leverage the connection between trade and adaptation action in countries and regions that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
WTO and GCA will collaborate on topics relevant to climate adaptation and trade, focusing on undertaking outreach activities and policy dialogue in these areas, developing reports and other knowledge products, and organizing knowledge sharing events, seminars, and capacity building activities in the areas of trade and climate adaptation.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO, and Prof. Patrick Verkooijen signed the partnership agreement in a ceremony witnessed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of GCA. The two organizations will also explore opportunities to provide policy support to WTO members interested in the trade and climate adaptation agenda.
The MoU was signed during the the Africa Adaptation Summit with global leaders hosted by GCA, together with the African Union, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Africa Adaptation Initiative and the Climate Vulnerable Forum.
In GCA’s State and Trends in Adaptation Report 2021 on Africa, the focus chapter on trade produced in collaboration with the WTO showed how trade can play two crucial roles in supporting Africa’s efforts to adapt to a changing climate. In the short term, trade cushions the volatility of food markets by providing a vital flow of supplies to regions that may see a sudden reduction in domestic production of food crops due to a climate shock. In the longer term, trade enables producers and consumers to adapt to changes in comparative advantage, thereby helping the transformation of Africa’s agricultural sector and the diversification of its broader economy.
About the World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
About the Global Center on Adaptation
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization which works as a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international to the local, in partnership with the public and private sector. Founded in 2018, GCA operates from its headquarters in the largest floating office in the world, located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. GCA has a worldwide network of regional offices in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Beijing, China.
