Event

Rationale

Over the past years, Southeast Asia has experienced extreme weather events that led to loss of lives, properties and livelihoods.  Floods, drought and other climate extremes are becoming more frequent and intense, causing severe devastation in countries in Southeast Asia. In a study conducted by Maplecroft 2013 on Climate Change Vulnerability Index, five out of seven cities are in Southeast Asia, ranking from 2nd to 6th:  (2) Manila, Philippines, (3) Bangkok, Thailand, (4) Yangon, Myanmar, (5) Jakarta, Indonesia, and (6) Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam are facing extreme risks from the onset of climate change.

Worldwide, there has been a growing awareness of the potential adverse effects of climate change and the particular vulnerability of countries which led to a significant increase in ongoing and planned adaptation actions.  These actions are providing opportunities to identify strategies and measures to reduce climate vulnerability, increase understanding of climate risks, opportunities and potential solutions, and implement actions to adapt to a changing climate.

Countries have started to address regional concerns through forums such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Mekong River Commission (MRC).  Southeast Asian countries face similar climatic challenges and priorities though different technical and capacity needs.  This variation between countries creates both opportunities and challenges.  Common climatic challenges and priorities in the region create the potential for addressing adaptation needs through regional initiatives.  Meanwhile, regional initiatives can also be beneficial especially to those lacking with capacity and technical expertise.  

There are varying policies, approaches and measures undertaken by different countries to address climate change adaptation in the region in the areas of governance, water, coastal agriculture and infrastructure over the past years. There is a small growing example of cases where climate change is being used in anticipatory planning or in one-off projects. There are also concerted effort to develop a more comprehensive national and regional adaptation strategies and frameworks. A significant amount of regional and country-specific adaptation action is presently underway in East and Southeast Asia, at both the policy and program/project levels.

At the regional level, the MRC has established a “Climate Change and Adaptation Initiative” in collaboration with a number of partners that aims to support adaptation to the new challenges climate change poses for development in the Lower Mekong Basin and it addresses concerns related to impacts such as changing rainfall patterns, increased extreme weather events and temperature extremes, sea-level rise, displacement of persons, and changes in the flow of the river and its tributaries.

ASEAN, on the other hand, is facilitating a regional collaboration on climate change.  The “Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009– 2015”  include planned actions such as the development of an ASEAN Climate Change Initiative, promotion of shared knowledge on adaptation best practices, development of regional strategies to increase adaptation capacity, enhancing collaboration on the development of climate change scenarios and addressing climate related hazards (including a regional systematic observation system), promoting public awareness related to the links between human health and climate change, and, where possible, forming common positions on climate change.

At the national level, countries have been looking at mainstreaming adaptation in their development planning, integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, adaptation knowledge management, and funding adaptation.  Capacity building, research, knowledge sharing and policy development have been the primary focus of activities across the region and are yet to result to tangible measures in most countries.

For agriculture, of which all countries in the region indicated as a major focus area for adaptation action, there have been efforts to increase education and capacity building for local farmers, provide farmers with new and more effective cropping techniques, identify more diverse and adaptable crop types for planting, and provide more regular and easy access to meteorological information that can help determine planting seasons and crop potential.   An example for the latter is the Climate Field School in Dumangas, Iloilo, Philippines.

Adaptation actions specific to the water sector include establishing or strengthening water conservation and water efficiency practices and systems, improved management practices, water recycling/reuse, protecting ecoystems, restoring vegetation cover and controlling soil erosion, among other.    And as to the other focus area identified for the region, coastal, some of the adaptation actions initiated are the implementation of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management, integration consideration of sea level rise into development of coastal areas, coastal hazard management, and a lot more.

These initiatives are contributing to building the capacities of countries in the region to minimize the adverse consequences of climate change.  There are still issues though in judging the success of adaptation measures to gauge the overall efficacy of such measures in the national or local context. There is therefore a need to assess and showcase the varying trends on climate change adaptation in the region. To this end, this conference is being organized to showcase and share knowledge on the current trends in climate change adaptation in the region. Further, the conference aims to be a venue for climate change focal points of Southeast Asian countries, policy-makers, local governments and experts to share and learn from each other and conclude future actions.

Objectives

• To bring together climate change focal points, policy makers and experts to share and discuss knowledge on climate change adaptation in Southeast Asia;
• to capture the latest learning and good practices in Southeast Asia;
• to integrate lessons learned into national and international development programmes in order to ultimately enhance the capacity in the region on climate change adaptation; and
• to disseminate activities conducted by APAN.

Format of the Event

The forum will be built around different sessions spread over two days.  The keynote paper will be the recent output of ICLEI which is on trends on climate change adaptation in Southeast Asia.  Other presentations will be coming from represented countries to share their best practice which will include challenges encountered and recommendations.  Each session will be coordinated by a moderated who will provide a brief summary of key emerging issues at the end of the event.

Proposed Sessions

Session 1:  Overview and Keynote
This session will include presentations from APAN and ICLEI to provide a background on the event and the organization including presentations from the thematic nodes on agriculture, water, and mountain.  The highlight of this session will be the presentation of the paper on climate change adaptation trends in Southeast Asia which was developed by ICLEI as APAN’s sub-regional node.

Session 2: Coping Strategies and Policies on Adaptation
Presentations during this session will be coming from country representatives — can either be the climate change focal point or policy-maker, who will be discussing their country’s strategies and policies on adaptation.

Session 3:  Adaptation Technologies 
The session will be devoted to presentations on the different technologies being used across the region to address adaptation needs of the different sectors including the challenges and lessons learned in using these technologies.

Session 4:  Adaptation Financing and Risk Transfer Mechnanism
Adaptation financing and risk transfer mechanism still remain a challenge for Southeast Asian countries.  This session will provide an overview and updates on adaptation financing and risk transfer mechanism as well as the steps undertaken by the countries on both aspects.  The policy brief developed by ICLEI will be presented during the session.

Session 5:  Closing Session
This will be an open forum session to assess the progress of adaptation actions in the region as presented, challenges and recommendations for future actions.  This session will contribute to improving APAN’s activities in the region such as capacity building and knowledge management.