Regional Workshop on Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Developmental Planning

A four-day regional workshop on Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Developmental Planning was held at ADBI, Tokyo from 14 to 17 April 2009 to discuss mainstreaming opportunities in the most vulnerable sectors of agriculture and water, with the focus on developing countries and small island states. It was organized in collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations University (UNU), Ministry of Environment (MOE) Japan, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), and the Asian Disaster Reduction Centre (ADRC).

Representatives from governments, mostly senior officials attached to agriculture, water, and other relevant ministries, universities, research institutes, and the private sector attended the workshop. 21 delegates and 30 observers from related organizations in Japan participated in the workshop. Participants shared practical experiences and explored ways to more effectively mainstream adaptation concerns into developmental planning.

The workshop was organized as a series of thematic sessions covering the following topics and issues.

• vulnerability assessment, availability and applicability of planning tools;
• selected structural measures of adaptation;
• selected non-structural measures of adaptation;
• practices of adaptation planning;
• partnering for climate change adaptation;
• current status and policy barriers in adapting to climate change; and
• mainstreaming strategies

Mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into developmental planning is still in early stages in most of the countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. Integrating adaptation measures in sectoral and institutional level is important to safeguard existing and future development progress in the light of current climate variability, the projected increase in extreme weather events and the development progress already being impacted by climate change in semi-arid and tropical regions as well as small island states.

Agricultural and water sectors are sensitive to climate change. Thus climate resilient investments are essential to enhance livelihood opportunities and promote sustainable economic growth. At present, major developmental activities are made in climate sensitive regions highly exposed to droughts, floods and cyclones without giving due considerations to climate change.

Various planning tools at different decision making levels are available to assess the climate risk in agriculture and water sectors. Selected structural and non-structural measures have been implemented to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. Selected structural measures include adjusting the land use practices, introduction of water saving methods through modernization, construction of multi-purpose climate shelters, etc. Each of the measures however covers only specific aspects of climate change and is limited to distinct region. Typical non-structural measures consist of early warning systems, insurance schemes, efficient gender, community participation etc and they play an important role at all levels. To enhance their effectiveness, these measures should be integrated into the development plan of the sectors concerned. This would require that climate risks be systematically taken into account in the design of new developmental projects/programs.

While awareness of climate risks has improved, there are some existing barriers to mainstreaming both at the levels of organization and the enabling environment. These barriers include constraints specific to climate change and development progress, including the availability of scientific information, lack of communication between the science and policy communities, absence of knowledge base on successful measures as well as financial resources.

Mainstreaming climate change adaptation could also prove difficult to carry out because of direct tradeoffs in certain cases between development priorities and the actions required to deal with climate change. Governments confronting other pressing challenges, usually have few incentives to divert scarce resources to investments that are perceived as not paying off until climate change impacts fully manifest themselves.

Important area of action lies in improving the adaptive capacity and creating an enabling policy environment. Continued budget support for scientific capacity building and implementation of pilot projects is needed. Joint meetings between scientific and policy making communities could enhance understanding of climate risks and measures available to mitigate them which would facilitate the mainstreaming of climate consideration in the relevant budgetary planning and implementation process.

Another area for mainstreaming climate adaptation is improved climate data collection as a part of establishing early warning systems at sub-regional level. Further actions include the broad engagement of relevant stakeholders such as community based organizations, women and private sector in supporting climate change adaptation projects.

Bilateral and multilateral development partners are well positioned with finance and knowledge to play a catalytic role in mainstreaming climate change adaptation into developmental planning, particularly in co-funding and building local capacity for the implementation of structural and non-structural adaptation measures.

Identification of appropriate entry points for integrating climate change information into developmental planning is also needed. Considerations of climate change impacts could be included in land use planning, water management planning, redesigning structural standards and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA).

Another priority that has not received sufficient attention is regional coordination in adaptation planning. Most adaptation plans are at the national level while many impacts cut across national boundaries. Sharing of climate data, from flood control to droughts and best practices at regional level could help countries in the region identify the appropriate mechanism to mainstream climate change adaptation in developmental planning as well as specific adaptation measures that are best suited to their local conditions.

Read the full summary of proceedings.