Bangkok/Colombo, 17 October 2016 – Adaptation experts, policymakers, donors, civil society and private sector representatives from over 50 Asia-Pacific countries are meeting in the Sri Lankan capital for three days to discuss ways to strengthen climate resilience in the fast urbanizing region where the majority still depend on climate-vulnerable sectors and ecosystems services for a living.
The President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Maithripala Sirisena opened the 17-19 October “5th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum” organized by the UN Environment Asia Pacific Adaptation Network and hosted by the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, Sri Lanka, with more than 800 participants attending.
Having as its theme “Adapting and Living below 2°C: Bridging the Gaps in Policy & Practice”, the Adaptation Forum focuses on climate change adaptation planning, mobilizing financing for adaptation, promoting climate-resilient and sustainable development as well as role of partnerships.
Asia and the Pacific is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change with seven of the ten most vulnerable countries to climate change and natural disasters located in the region. Impacts vary across the region, country to country and even within country – depending largely on the specific geophysical reality, socio and economic circumstances, development trends and prioritization afforded by a nation’s government leaders to its specific situation. With a one meter rise in sea level by 2050, Bangladesh alone would see 20 million people displaced from their homes
“With the growing recognition of adaptation as an integral part of development planning, the Forum will build on the momentum and outcomes of countries have undertaken since the last Adaptation Forum, and share experiences for solutions going forward s,” said Isabelle Louis, Acting Regional Director, UN Environment Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
As a key part of the Government of Sri Lanka's SRI LANKA NEXT: A Blue Green Era celebrations, the 5th Asia Pacific Adaptation Forum’s agenda aligns with the four major global outcomes in 2015 relevant to adaptation, namely Finance for Development, the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The Forum also happens at a timely moment when countries have committed to the Paris Agreement entering into force in early November.
A highlight of the Forum will be a Ministerial and Climate Authority panel on 18 October with speakers including H.E. Mark Brown, Finance Minister of Cook Islands, H.E. Harsha de Silva, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka H.E. Dr. Neikiesalie Kirehigh, Minister for Forest, Environment and Climate Change of India’s Nagaland State Government, , and Fakavae Taomia, Special Envoy and the Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister, Tuvalu. A plenary on Adaptation Planning, Financing for Adaptation and Climate-Resilient Development will be held on each day of the Forum, with a Final Way Forward and Outlook Session on October 19.
A series of workshops and training programmes during and after the 5th Adaptation Forum covering climate loss and damage, climate resilience, adaptation project preparation, advancing national adaptation plans, and adaptation gaps in the Hindu Kush Himalaya and Islands States in Indian Ocean will also take place.
For more information, please contact:
Mozaharul Alam, +662 2882601, mozaharul.alam@unep.org
Tanawan Sarabuddhi, +662 288 2127, tanawan.sarabuddhi@unep.org
About APAN:
Launched in 2009 by UN Environment, the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network is one of the most recognizable adaptation networks not only regionally but globally. It operates through its Secretariat hosted by UN Environment Asia and the Pacific Office, Bangkok, Thailand. Sub-regional activities of the Network are carried out by the sub-regional nodes and thematic nodes located in the five sub-regions of Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and the Pacific supported by several partners. The sub-regional nodes operate with the help of national implementing partners located in the countries falling within each sub-region.
Key partners are the Asian Development Bank, Ministry of the Environment, Japan, United Nations Development Programme, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, the Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific located at the Asian Institute for Technology, the Stockholm Environment Institute and United Nations Environment, Korean Environment Institute.
