8th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum Strengthening regional cooperation to address cascading climate risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Organiser: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Session

Strengthening regional cooperation to address cascading climate risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

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Session organisers

Adaptation Without Borders global partnership (AWB)

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

Adaptation at Altitude (A@A)

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)

About the session

This session will explore the barriers and enablers of enhanced regional cooperation on adaptation to manage the cascading impacts of climate change. We will build collective learning on what cascading climate risks are, how they affect mountainous regions such as the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), and the forms of regional cooperation that could present resilience-building solutions.

ICIMOD will share state-of-the-art research on cascading climate risks in the HKH and the benefits of enhanced regional cooperation to manage them. We will draw out instruments that have strengthened the effectiveness of regional cooperation mechanisms in other mountainous regions (through Adaptation at Altitude) and through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (via the Asia Development Bank). We will engender discussion on some of the barriers to stronger regional cooperation on adaptation in the HKH (political, economic, social, technical) and how we can scale solutions to such challenges.

We will also hear reflections from government representatives in the HKH region (including representatives from Bhutan and Nepal) on the opportunities they see for transboundary adaptation and the forms of support and resources that would be required. And we will end the session with a broader debate on how we can create an enabling environment (in governance and policy) for transformative adaptation, and what COP28 – including the framework on the Global Goal on Adaptation – must deliver to achieve it.

This event is part of ICIMOD’s strategic communication and engagement campaign #HKH2UAE, planned in the run-up to UNFCCC COP28 in 2021.

Target audience

Adaptation planners, policymakers, and key actors across the Asia Pacific

Background

The 8th Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation (APAN) Forum is considered Asia-Pacific’s largest and longest-standing gathering of adaptation practitioners to meet, exchange knowledge and experiences, and collaborate towards the pertinent outcomes and practical solutions that are needed to address the challenges of climate change. This year’s forum is hosted by the Ministry of Environment – Republic of Korea, under the bigger umbrella of the Korea Global Adaptation Week 2023 in Songdo, Incheon City. The APAN Forum is a biennial flagship event of the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) Secretariat, hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific with the support of the Ministry of the Environment – Japan.

Agenda

31 August 2023, 14:00-15:30