Publication

15.02.2017

Summary of APAN Capacity Building Activities, 2010-2015

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In support of APAN’s broad mission to “build climate change resilient and sustainable human systems, ecosystems and economies” in Asia-Pacific, the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ) has provided significant funding to run the network and contribute meaningfully to helping the region’s government officials adapt to climate change. A big component of this task is organizing and conducting capacity building activities, particularly targeted training workshops, which were conducted from 2010 to 2015 across 12 countries in Asia and the Pacific. 
 
This paper provides a short summary of the lessons that came out of the numerous capacity building activities implemented over the five-year period. These activities, which comprise training workshops, were financed by MOEJ and organized in collaboration with APAN’s eight partner organizations. They are: the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC); the Environmental Innovators program, Keio University, Japan; the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); the Climate Action Network for South Asia (CANSA); Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI); the Global Water Partnership (GWP) South Asia; the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD); and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). Some of these workshops were also co-financed by other development partners, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Korea Environment Institute (KEI).  
 
With a concise summary of the lessons and outcomes from five years of implementing capacity building at the country-level through APAN, this paper serves to help inform training institutions, government agencies and other development partners of the current, on-the-ground needs as they relate to adaptation, while guiding the direction for future capacity building support. Indeed building the region’s capacity to adapt to climate change remains a priority and meeting the region’s adaptation needs could well be achieved through more targeted and streamlined trainings for government officials – and this could be delivered effectively through Climate Change Asia (CCA@AIT), a program launched at the Asian Institute of Technology and supported by MOEJ.