Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation, and Policy Response in South East Asia
With a focus on economics, socioeconomics and institutional aspects
Background
According to the United Nations’ Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change is projected to result in adverse effects including increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, increased intensity of storms, greater frequency of heat waves, floods and droughts, more rapid spread of diseases, and accelerated loss of biodiversity. These impacts are likely to reduce economic growth and exacerbate poverty. It is anticipated that the traditional coping mechanisms of developing countries to natural calamities will be seriously inadequate to cope with the negative impacts of climate change as cited above, thus increasing the vulnerability of the poor to such impacts.
The densely populated river deltas and coastal areas in Asia will be among the worst affected regions worldwide, according to the IPCC. A recent World Bank report further states that countries of South East Asia could be significantly impacted by sea-level rise and Vietnam was identified as one of the top ten developing countries worldwide where impacts will be worst. Other South East Asian countries are also predicted to face difficulties associated with different forms of climate change impacts like more frequent storm events and extreme weather conditions.
Given the expected significant impacts of climate change in South East Asia, countries of the region need to design adaptation and mitigation strategies aimed at enhancing the adaptive capacity and resilience of vulnerable communities while putting in place measures to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. International bodies recognize that developing countries have the least capacity to respond to climate change challenges, given their circumstances. Many have expressed willingness to help these countries respond to these challenges. EEPSEA is willing to do its part and is organizing this conference to identify how it may respond better to the needs of South East Asian countries, given its mandate to provide evidence-based information as a basis for decision-making. The conference is also expected to provide donors with information on how they can target their support for work on climate change more effectively.
Conference Format
The conference will consist of workshops and presentations of papers. Each participant researcher is expected to make a 30-minute presentation with an additional 10 minutes allocated for discussion.
Decision-makers from both national government and local government units will be invited to share their views in a panel discussion.
Invited speakers will also give an overview of the vulnerability of South East Asia to climate change and speak on relevant issues related to the economics of climate change. Workshop discussions to identify research gaps and priority research areas will also be held.
The workshop outputs are expected to lead in the determination of key research areas and relevant follow-up activities to help governments at the national and local levels meet the challenges posed by climate change impacts.
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