The World Adaptation Science Programme (WASP) is one of the four pillars of the World Climate Programme (WMO Congress XVI, Resolution 18).

WASP is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) , the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations University (UNU).

WASP is a think tank and knowledge hub involving over 30 core specialists/members from around the globe.  These include leading national, regional and international research institutions, implementation agencies, funding organizations, financial sectors and governance bodies.

WASP builds on lessons learned from the former Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA) that ran from 2008 till 2018.

WASP has an international panel with a multi-stakeholder governance structure consisting of a supervisory Management Group, which oversees a Science Committee and a Policy and Finance Committee.