Linking Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Loss and Damage - Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research

The Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) convened a meeting of 50 participants from the Asia Pacific region to discuss how to better link climate change adaptation; disaster risk reduction and the issue of loss and damage.

This workshop was held in Japan (21 to 23 of August), and was attended by representatives from the Pacific, including the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, with members of the SPREP climate change division joining virtually through tele-conferencing facilities.

The workshop provided an opportunity for national policy makers and researchers alike to identify some of the key challenges and priorities of the region, in terms of need for further work to address both natural disasters and climate change impacts, and how work related to loss and damage might be better incorporated into these disciplines.

From the Pacific, there were discussions on the need to better involve the private sector and to ensure that private and public sectors alike are given access to better data, to ensure that future investments are more risk sound. The role of regional agencies was discussed in terms of being potential providers and generators of such data, but at the same time, the role of ground truth-ing information, local knowledge and a better understanding of the social impacts related to climate change and disaster risk management was also highlighted.

APN is looking to continue to expand its work programme to support the Asia Pacific region in addressing these linkages, and will be using the recommendations out of this workshop to guide its future work in these areas.

For more information, please contact either Diane McFadzien [email protected] or Ewan Cameron [email protected]