Adaptation Forum 2016

The Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum, the flagship event of the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN), is the primary regional platform for adaptation practitioners to meet, share their learning and experiences, and work together towards the pertinent outcomes and practical solutions that are needed to address the challenges of climate change.

Gaining from the momentum since the first event in 2010 and more recently with the previous 2014 edition in Kuala Lumpur, the 5th APAN Forum will bring together policymakers, scientists, donors, youth, and representatives from over 50 countries. For 2016, the theme “Adapting and Living below 2°C: Bridging the Gaps in Policy & Practice” will explore platforms and concrete pathways for even greater partnerships by governments, civil society and business. With the growing interest and with the recognition of adaptation not only as a development imperative but as an existential one as well, we are looking forward to welcoming more than 800 participants who will be looking towards meaningful outcomes during the event.

The Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment of the Government of Sri Lanka will be hosting this year’s Forum at the historic Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The APAN Forum will be from October 17-19, 2016, and will be a key part of the Government of Sri Lanka's SRI LANKA NEXT: A Blue Green Era celebrations.

OBJECTIVES

  • To build on the momentum and outcomes of the previous APAN events – and allow for a retrospective evaluation and review of recent developments in adaptation as a basis towards the next action steps;
  • Raise awareness and understanding of potential adaptation project opportunities in the region and matching these with available climate funding resources, especially from the private sector;
  • Identify priority knowledge, policy and funding gaps.

 

This Year's Theme

Adapting and Living below 2°C:  Bridging the Gaps in Policy & Practice

Adaptation to climate change is becoming the new reality for many countries and for many actors that strive to equip their growing populations with the means to survive and thrive in a vastly different world. Many policies are in place, but translating them so that they facilitate real action can become a real challenge given the often fragmented approaches, thinking, and perspectivesthat had espoused them in the first place.

Year 2015 has delivered four major global outcomes relevant to adaptation i.e. Finance for Development in Addis, the Sustainable Development Goals in New York, the Paris Agreement (CoP21) in France, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan.

Countries are now embarking on delivering these global outcomes.

The agenda for the Forum will align with these global outcomes, with the sessions organized under four major streams: Adaptation Planning, Financing for Adaptation, Climate Resilient Development, and Multi-actor cross learning. For each of these streams, the Forum will explore translating policies into practice and translating practice into policies (upscaling), and how more participation from the private sector can be elicited. There will be that deliberate effort to learn lessons from a decade of adaptation policy and action, looking not only at what worked, but also what did not.