Event

“The Workshop for Capacity Building on Climate Change Impact Assessments and Adaptation Planning in the Asia-Pacific Region: Technical Review of Background Assessment for Climate Change Adaptation” was held on 27-28 January 2016, in Manila, Philippines. This was a follow-up event of the previous workshop, “The Workshop for Capacity Building on Climate Change Impact Assessments and Adaptation Planning in the Asia-Pacific Region: Needs and Challenges for Designing and Implementing Climate Actions” in Bangkok, Thailand on 1-2 October 2015.

Effective adaptation planning depends on the support of robust assessments to identify both adaptation needs and appropriate responses. In this workshop, the necessary background assessments for climate change adaptation (CCA) were categorised into three distinct types: 1) assessment of climate change scenarios and impacts; 2) assessment of risks, hazards and vulnerabilities associated with climate change impacts; and 3) assessment of effectiveness of CCA countermeasures.

According to Technical Guidelines for the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Process (UNFCCC, 2012) for least developed countries, the NAP process included four elements: A) Lay the Groundwork and Address Gaps (“stocktaking” stage); B) Preparatory Element (“assessment” stage); C) Implementation Strategies (“implementation” stage); and D) Reporting, Monitoring and Review (“M&E” stage). Under Element B of the NAP Process, five steps were identified. While the first three steps covered background assessments, steps four and five related more directly to the actual planning for adaptation. Considering the importance of robust assessments in securing effective planning, the three categories of assessment addressed in this workshop corresponded directly with those identified in steps B.1, B.2 and B.3 of the NAP process guidelines.

This workshop aimed to identify key requirements of the CCA background assessments at the subnational and/or national levels on the key sectoral and/or cross-sectoral bases (e.g., agriculture, water resources, health, etc.). The expected outputs from this workshop included a better understanding and identification of effective and feasible tools of CCA background assessments and the best practices. Approximately 60 participants were invited to the workshop, including those who are engaged in the field of climate change adaptation (e.g., national government officials, policy makers, practitioners, and researchers) in the Asia‐Pacific region.