The Government of Ecuador is initiating the development of its National Adaptation Plan (NAP), following the directives of its National Strategy for Climate Change (NSCC) which established the development of a National Adaptation Plan as a principal means for its implementation. The NAP process in Ecuador has two major objectives:

(a) To reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, by building adaptive capacity and resilience in the prioritized sectors or thematic areas established by the NSCC

(b) To facilitate the coherent integration of climate change adaptation into development planning processes, policies and strategies related to six prioritized sectors ((i) food sovereignty, agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries; ii) productive and strategic sectors*; iii) health; iv) water patrimony; v) natural heritage; and vi) human settlements), as well as into new and existing related programmes and projects.

The NSCC and the proposed NAP are in line with the Constitution of Ecuador which outlines that the State would adopt measures to respond to climate change and protect the populations at risk, and are also aligned with the National Development Plan (NDP) of Ecuador which states the need to "Implement mitigation and adaptation to climate change to reduce the economic and environmental vulnerability".