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A Collaborative Capacity-Building Workshop to Address an Uncertain Future
Strategic Group: Climate and Environmental Risks & Action Area: Cryosphere and Water
ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal
31 August 2026 to 03 September 2026
Across Asia and the Pacific, climate variability and change are intensifying hydrological extremes and interacting with rapid socio-economic development, accelerating urbanization, and increasing water demand. Countries across the region are facing high-exposure, multi-hazard water risks, including shifting monsoon behaviour, changing glacier and snowmelt dynamics in High Mountain Asia, more frequent and severe droughts and floods, salinization and land subsidence in deltaic and coastal zones, and growing pressure on freshwater ecosystems and the essential services they provide. These challenges are further compounded in transboundary basins, densely populated floodplains, and climate-sensitive livelihood systems, underscoring the need for decision-making processes that remain effective under a wide range of uncertain climate futures.
At the same time, governments and water institutions often face practical constraints when moving from risk and vulnerability assessments to prioritized, finance-ready adaptation interventions. These constraints include limited access to decision-relevant climate and hydrological information, fragmented governance across sectors and administrative levels, and the need for more structured methods to identify robust adaptation portfolios and articulate climate rationale justifications for investment proposals.
To help address these challenges, UNESCO together with the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (through ICIWaRM), Deltares, and the Government of the Netherlands—has been developing the Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) methodology since 2018. The CRIDA manual is now available in multiple languages, and online CRIDA training courses hosted on UNESCO’s Open Learning Platform have already reached several thousand practitioners worldwide. Strengthening capacity to apply CRIDA offers a structured approach that connects problem framing, climate risk characterization, stress testing of systems, and comparative evaluation of adaptation options, ultimately guiding stakeholders toward practical and actionable resilience strategies.
CRIDA is also referenced in the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Water Project Design Guidelines as a methodology that can support climate-resilient project preparation. In this context, the proposed regional workshop being organised by ICIMOD and UNESCO aims to enhance the capacity of stakeholders in Asia and the Pacific to apply CRIDA more effectively and to progress from risk and vulnerability assessments toward the design and formulation of bankable, climate-resilient water projects.
The objective of the workshop is to build the capacity of countries and organizations in Asia and the Pacific to plan and manage water resources under climate uncertainty by training professionals on the CRIDA methodology, and to support the development of concept notes and an action plan for potential CRIDA applications in the region.
The workshop will combine short technical lectures, facilitated discussions, group work, and hands-on exercises. It will be organized in two parallel tracks:
The workshop targets 20–30 professionals from Asia and the Pacific. Candidates should have experience in water resources management and a foundational understanding of hydrological and/or climate analysis, with an active role in national or regional water management bodies. Proficiency in English is expected, unless otherwise specified once the venue is confirmed.
Participants are expected to represent two complementary profiles:
Prerequisite: Participants should complete the CRIDA online course on UNESCO’s Open Learning Platform and present a certificate of completion prior to the workshop.
The workshop will invite participants from Asia and the Pacific, with priority given to countries and organizations facing significant climate-related water challenges.
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