ADAPTATION FORUM 2018

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. Since the first event in 2010, the APAN Climate Change Forum has grown to become the venue for scientists, donors, youth, and representatives from over 50 countries to meet, converse, and work together for even greater partnerships for adaptation action. With the growing interest in enabling resilience that is not merely reactive, but more adaptive and transformative, we are looking forward to welcoming more than 1,000 participants from the Asia and the Pacific, to Manila, Philippines. The APAN Forum will be from October 17-19, 2018 and will be co-hosted by the Climate Change Commission, Philippines, the Government of the Republic of Palau, and the Asian Development Bank.

THEME

The 6th Forum will be built around four “streams” focusing on (i) resilience of social and human systems, (ii) resilience of natural systems, (iii) resilience of industry and the built environment, and (iv) resilience of island communities. The inclusion of islands recognizes that Asia and the Pacific’s numerous and diverse island communities face particular challenges associated with economic shocks and natural hazards, and building resilience is often an existential task. The hosts of this year’s Forum - the Philippines and Palau – embody the diverse experiences of island communities and have compelling resilience stories to share, which many other countries in Asia and the Pacific might identify with and learn from.

OBJECTIVES

  • Address the capacity building needs and priority issues in the Asia Pacific regions that would enable the scaling of tools and the means to resilience that will equip our human systems and communities with the capacity to withstand and moderate the worst-case scenarios.
  • Facilitate the “how” part of adaptation knowledge and programmes, with actionable, scalable “next step” guidelines for communities, stakeholders, and governments.
  • Report on the specific actions taken since the last APAN Forum regarding progress on addressing the priority knowledge, policy and funding gaps;
  • Act as a platform for discussions and outcomes that would accelerate action and provide the basis for complementary and concrete groundwork for the 2018 Global Stocktake facilitative dialogues, as well as for both ASEAN and Pacific country contributions leading to COP 24 in Katowice, Poland at the end of the year.