NEWS

For Asia-Pacific countries to survive and thrive in a changing climate, greater efforts are needed to mainstream climate change adaptation into national development policies, moving away from business as usual practices.

That was the broad consensus among 500 climate change adaptation experts and practitioners who met recently in Incheon, Korea at the 3^rd Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum.

The Forum brought together speakers and participants from across 30 Asia-Pacific countries in government, civil society, academia and the private sector to once again share experiences and find concrete solutions to mainstreaming adaptation planning at the national and community levels.

The running theme of mainstreaming climate change adaptation has been the key issue Forum participants have been focusing on and addressing in the past three years.

This year participants examined more closely the increasing challenges many countries face in planning and implementing climate change adaptation. They include the lack of access to finance and technologies, as well as inadequate institutional capacity that resonates in most developing nations.

About 150 speakers were engaged in six plenary and 26 parallel sessions at the Forum for three days (18 to 20 March 2013) to define these actions and find ways to bolster their adaptive capacities, including by better engaging the private sector and gaining access to global climate change adaptation funding.

A final report of the Forum will outline these measures and will be made available on the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) web portal. Below are the selected findings in the interim:

• The value of starting with existing policies and learning from experience are now more widely accepted. For example, how local communities have historically adapted to flood regimes is being reconsidered in contemporary landscapes.
• Adaptation strategies need to acknowledge more explicitly that vulnerabilities are dynamic and that multiple uncertainties remain.
• Governance structures need to be more inclusive and adaptive. This will help societies better navigate unprecedented and uncertain climates.
• The private sector is an important group to successful adaptation action. Conversations with business will have to take place in business events and boardrooms.
• Poor, vulnerable and critical neglected groups need to be engaged more directly and meaningfully in adaptation conversations.
• International organisations have an important role in sharing knowledge and experiences across countries. Adaptation knowledge management that is effective increases rates of learning and builds capacity.
• Loss and damage is an issue for all countries considering the recent impacts of extreme weather events like floods and droughts.

The 3^rd Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum was hosted by the Korea Environment Institute, in association with the Korea Adaptation Center for Climate Change. The Forum was jointly organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Institute for Global Environment Strategies (IGES), the Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP), and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).

The Forum is part of APAN’s core activities to bring together the region’s climate change adaptation experts and practitioners. Other key tasks for APAN include developing sub-regional and national activities, expanding partnerships, and disseminating information and knowledge on adaptation. 

More information about the Forum, including themes and agenda, can be found here: http://www.asiapacificadapt.net/adaptationforum2013/content/home