Case Study

Assessing Timor-Leste’s National Adaptation Plan against the First Global Stocktake

Posted: 03, Apr 2026

Updated: 03, Apr 2026

Asia - Japan, Timor-Leste

Dili, Timor Leste. Photo by Jaime Gusmao on Unsplash
Dili, Timor Leste. Photo by Jaime Gusmao on Unsplash

Challenge

Timor-Leste needs to reflect the first Global Stocktake’s adaptation outcomes in its National Adaptation Plan, but the degree of alignment is unclear.

Solution

Researchers used a checklist to compare Timor-Leste’s National Adaptation Plan with Global Stocktake outcomes and identify concrete areas to strengthen future adaptation planning.

Overview

The Global Stocktake (GST) under the Paris Agreement is a collective review held every five years to assess progress toward Paris’ purpose and long-term goals. The first GST (GST1) ran from COP26 in 2021 to COP28 in 2023. It produced a decision that covers mitigation, adaptation, finance, and loss and damage, and includes outcomes such as increasing renewable energy capacity and improving energy efficiency. Countries are expected to update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in light of the GST, but there is no formal guidance on how to reflect the results in national adaptation policies.

A joint research team from the National EcoSecurity System for Timor-Leste (NESSTL) and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) examined how Timor-Leste’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP) relates to the first GST outcome on adaptation. The study, set out in the discussion paper titled, “Assessing the Alignment of National Determined Contributions (NDC) and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) with the Outcomes of the First Global Stocktake (GST1) under the Paris Agreement: A Case Study of Timor-Leste,” focused on the degree to which Timor-Leste reflected mitigation and adaptation elements in the GST outcomes.

For mitigation, the alignment between the NDC and GST outcomes was limited, as the NDC reflected only nine of 29 mitigation elements required in GST1. However, for adaptation, Timor-Leste’s NAP aligned well with the GST, reflecting nine of 10 adaptation elements outlined in the GST1 outcomes.

This case study focuses on the discussion paper’s adaptation component.

Checklist-based analysis of Global Stocktake adaptation outcomes

The research team compiled the adaptation elements of the GST1 outcomes into a checklist. The researchers then assessed Timor-Leste’s NAP against this checklist using a three-level scale: “Yes,” “Partially yes,” and “No.” The scale showed whether each adaptation element appeared in the document that Timor-Leste submitted as its Adaptation Communication under the Paris Agreement.

Timor-Leste’s NAP, submitted in 2021, serves as the country’s Adaptation Communication. The analysis, therefore, looked at the NAP text and compared it with the adaptation parts of the GST1 decision. This approach made it possible to see where the NAP already reflected the GST outcomes and where there were gaps or only partial links.

Areas of alignment between the National Adaptation Plan and the first Global Stocktake

The checklist results showed that Timor-Leste’s NAP aligned with many (nine of 10) adaptation elements in the GST1 outcomes. The document covered climate risk assessment, adaptation planning, implementation measures, and monitoring and evaluation. It also addressed themes such as capacity building, funding and finance, and institutional arrangements.

Items marked “Partially yes” related mainly to elements in the GST1 outcome that called for information on urgent, incremental, transformational, and country-driven adaptation. The NAP discusses urgent needs and longer term measures, but it does not always organize this content using the same terms as the GST. Country-driven adaptation is not described explicitly, although the NAP outlines national priorities and processes that relate to this idea.

The only item marked “No” was the explicit description of the adaptation cycle. The GST1 outcome referred to a cycle that includes climate risk assessment, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Timor-Leste’s NAP addressed each of these elements, but it did not present them as a single cycle or use that term directly.

Implications for Timor-Leste’s future adaptation planning

Timor-Leste’s NAP already reflected many of the adaptation elements in the GST1 outcomes, and this finding raised questions for the researchers about how far the first GST encouraged countries to increase their adaptation plans’ ambition. For Timor-Lestee, much of the content requested in GST1 was already present in the NAP submitted before the GST was completed.

At the same time, the analysis pointed to options for future improvement. Timor-Leste could choose to refer more directly to concepts such as country-driven adaptation and the adaptation cycle in future updates of its NAP or Adaptation Communication. Clearer links between national documents and GST language may help decision makers show how national adaptation policies respond to global guidance.

The study also illustrated one way to use GST outcomes at the country level. The checklist translated adaptation elements from a global decision into concrete questions and was used to review an existing plan and identify areas that needed clarification, adjustment, or further work. This type of assessment provided a more structured basis for discussing how to use GST results when countries revised their NAPs and NDCs.

Acknowledgements

This report is based on the discussion paper “Assessing the Alignment of Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) with the Outcomes of the First Global Stocktake (GST1) under the Paris Agreement: A Case Study of Timor-Leste,” prepared by the National EcoSecurity System for Timor-Leste (NESS‑TL) and Japan’s Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).

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