Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum 2014:
New Partnerships for Resilient Development: Government, Business and Society
1-3 October 2014, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) is co-organizing the 4th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum. The Forum will help participants from all levels of government, in business and society become more effective in addressing the challenges of development in a changing climate. This will be done through critical reflection on the roles of actors involved and how new partnerships for resilient development can be secured.
The Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forums are among the biggest climate adaptation events in the region. Three previous Adaptation Forums have been organised since 2010.
A focus on adaptation actors in the 2014 Forum
The 4th Forum will focus on adaptation actors and how they collaborate to form partnerships and networks. Actors are individuals, organisations or networks that participate in decision-making and action-taking related to adaptation to climate change. Actors in adaptation can influence agendas and activities in many ways all the way from lobbying or advising through to creating and following rules, norms and procedures.
Actors are important at local, national and international scales. At the international level, for example, are various intergovernmental organisations. Scientific networks operate at several scales and may contain members from both public and private bodies. Business associations have roles within and among countries. Local actors are usually critical for success of adaptation policies and programs in particular places.
Important cross-cutting questions about actors that will be addressed in the forum include:
- What are the roles of state and non-state actors in adaptation?
- What are the barriers to different actors’ involvement and how can these be addressed?
- What knowledge do different actors use?
- How do different actors exercise agency or have influence on decisions and actions?
- What types of collaborations and partnerships amongst different kinds of actors are important to successful adaptation?
- What are the features of effective multi-stakeholder adaptation processes?
- How can different actors effectively include gender responsiveness in adaptation practices?
Conference themes
To help address the general questions about adaptation actors in a way that can be useful for practice the 4th Adaptation Forum will be organised around the following five themes:
- Mainstreaming and Transformative Change: Policy; Trade and finance; Technology transfer, Public –private partnerships; Ethics and Values, gender, community involvement, poverty alleviation
- Development and the Food-Water-Energy Nexus: Agricultural land; Water-use; Water resources; Infrastructure/reconstruction, private sector, energy security
- Disaster Risk Reduction and human security: Loss and damage; Insurance, Risk communication and adaptation, Reconstruction, health, migration, conflict, poor and vulnerable groups.
- Forestry, Biodiversity and Ecosystems Change: Livelihoods, traditional ecological knowledge, conservation, ecosystem-based adaptation
- Cities with an emphasis on coastal Development and Sea-Level Rise: Urbanisation, tourism, heat waves, mangrove protection, sea-level rise and SIDS
To register, visit the Forum 2014 website: http://www.asiapacificadapt.net/adaptationforum2014/
For other inquiries, email the Forum 2014 Secretariat: forum@asiapacificadapt.net