India, Nov. 9 -- Reducing emissions slows climate change. Adaptation means coping with the change already here. For years, no yardstick existed to determine whether adaptation efforts were succeeding. The Belem indicators are a first attempt to fix that. At COP30, the 2025 United Nations climate summit in Brazil, countries adopted 59 'Belem Adaptation Indicators' to track progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA).

The indicators address some of the most practical questions in a warming world: Will the next flood come with enough warning? Will a rice farmer have seeds that survive a delayed monsoon? Will local health centres be prepared for a week of 45degC heat?

It is the adaptation counterpart to the 2015 Paris Agreement's t...