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WORKSHOP

Bridging the gaps in climate change adaptation

Programmes

SG2 & AAC

Venue

Kathmandu, Nepal

Date & Time

06 October 2024 to 08 October 2024

Registration links

  1. Register for the session on Adaptation gaps in Asia (registration link: Meeting Registration – Zoom )
  2. Register for the session on Adaptation needs and climate finance (registration link: Meeting Registration – Zoom )

About the event

Given the growing effects of climate change, there is an urgent need for socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards. This workshop titled ‘Bridging the gaps in climate change adaptation’ will present emerging evidence on how the growing needs for adaptation to climate change in Asia can be effectively addressed. It is organized by Asian research and capacity strengthening partners in CLARE – the UK-Canada framework research programme on Climate Adaptation and Resilience – and ICIMOD, along with Kathmandu-based stakeholders.

Objectives

The focus of this event is addressing gaps in climate change adaptation. While there has been much progress in national climate plans, the impacts of climate change are growing. And while action for adaptation happens at local level, capacities for such action are limited in many places with high needs, and local level data for effective climate change responses are not available. Neither is climate finance available where it is most needed.

Background

Capacities to address the impact of climate change at local levels are limited, and only 10-15 % of climate finance reaches marginalized groups and regions. The CLARE research programme is helping to address these gaps. For example, work by Uttaran and partners in Bangladesh is developing impact-based forecasts of water surge levels in inland tidal estuaries of the coastal areas. In the Philippines, TAMPEI and partner organizations are understanding ways in which residents of informal settlements are vulnerable to climate-related risks by actively engaging those communities in the process. Research in Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan is assessing migration as climate change adaptation strategies, and the effectiveness of interventions that enable migration as adaptation. And research on climate finance is quantifying the financial costs of climate change, the distributional consequences particularly with a gender lens, and what is needed to bring climate finance to where it is most needed.

As researchers and capacity strengthening experts’ part of the CLARE programme in Asia are meeting at Kathmandu, we are hosting an event on 8 October 2024, to engage climate and development practitioners in a discussion on evidence to inform effective climate action.

This meeting will present emerging findings on what investments can make action sustainable and inclusive and promote gender equity, and how this is facilitated by evidence and research. How can local innovation and good practice be scaled, and financed? What partnerships are needed to facilitate climate action, across local, national and international eco-systems of practice and research?

ICIMOD, NDRI and CLARE are pleased to invite climate policy makers and practitioners based in Kathmandu in an active discussion about promotive climate action, on lessons learned, and on research and evidence that can promote sustainable and inclusive action. In the morning session, we will focus on the roles of communities in climate change adaptation, and the support they need to close adaptation gaps. The afternoon session will focus on the need to enhance access to climate finance and ensure this supports marginalized groups and addresses local needs.

This will be a hybrid event with both in-person and online participants. The group discussion in the morning is open only for in-person participants. During the afternoon session, the in-person as well as online attendees can ask questions or share their thoughts with the panellists. Following an online registration, we will share a link to Zoom link via email for registered participants.

The morning session (10:00 to 11:30 hours) and the afternoon session (13:30 to 15:30 hours) will be open for online participants.

About CLARE in Asia

CLARE is a flagship research programme on climate adaptation and resilience, funded mostly (about 90%) by UK Aid through the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and co-funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. CLARE is bridging critical gaps between science and action by championing Southern leadership to enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards.

CLARE includes three pillars:

  • ‘Research’, commissioning new substantive action-oriented research as well as providing the cross-programme infrastructure.
  • ‘Services’ providing timely weather and climate services to inform investments and actions by FCDO, UK government and wider stakeholders in partnership with the UK Met Office and others.
  • ‘Partnerships’, supporting strategic alliances on climate science and adaptation such as the Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA) and Climate Risks and Early Warning Systems (CREWS).

CLARE research projects in Asia

RURBANISE in the Philippines deepens understanding of how residents of urban informal settlements are vulnerable to climate-related risks. In nine informal settlements, researchers actively engage communities in the project and mobilize capacities to strengthen effective responses for climate adaptation and deliver inclusive, and practical adaptation actions.

ClimateREEFS advances knowledge identifying socially equitable climate change adaptation pathways for coastal communities depending on coral reef resources in Indonesia and the Philippines. It implements social research on climate vulnerability and inclusive adaptation pathways, geospatial research to detect adaptive reefs, and ecological and genomic research to pilot analysis that tests the interplay of adaptiveness from genes to people.

CLARITY proposes to convene transformational ‘real world’ labs in Niger, central Tanzania, and Karnataka in India. These labs pursue rigorous, action-oriented research, linking inclusive stakeholder engagement with cutting-edge modelling and measurement to synthesize existing knowledge and identify promising innovations to improve climate resilience in tropical drylands, working with communities to build models of pathways for water management.

ECONOGENESIS is an inter-disciplinary project in Nepal, Tanzania and Rwanda, that updates previous studies on the economic costs of climate change and the costs of adaptation, including gender and social inclusion dimensions. Working closely with government, private sector, and civil society, it advances gender-positive and inclusive programming for adaptation finance and enhances the capacity to integrate these in adaptation planning and pipelines.

SURF-IT is developing real-time early warning and prediction in the Bangladesh delta to reduce the impact of tidal surges. This applies machine learning (artificial intelligence) methods to prioritize locations vulnerable to embankment failures. It applies a mix of gender responsive, participatory, and state-of-the-art remote sensing methods, in tight collaboration with local and national authorities, to enhance preparedness.

SUCCESS aims to evaluate adaptations involving mobility and immobility in South Asian countries. The project will gather data on the effectiveness of migration-as-adaptation, co-creating evaluative guidelines with action partners. The focus spans planned relocation, remaining populations at rural areas, and urban migration destinations across diverse ecological contexts. The goal is evidence-based best practices for safe mobility to build adaptive capacities.

RECOVER supports resilience to climate change in the small-island states Fiji, Maldives, and Mauritius, through innovation hubs developing scalable approaches. These aim to enhance small islands’ capacity to adapt to climate change through more inclusive and research-informed decisions, mitigating risks related to critical resource availability, material circulation integrity, and cost and benefit distributions.

CLARE capacity strengthening projects in Asia

Enhancing local capacities in socially inclusive resilience in Asia (SIRA) aims to identify the technical knowledge and capacity needs that local governments require to support inclusive climate action, and to address these needs through a responsive capacity-strengthening program. The project, led by ICLEI Southeast Asia and ICLEI South Asia, will support capacity strengthening for local government and climate practitioners in cities across Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Innovative Facilitation for Resilience (Fellowship) supports learning on how to foster complex dialogue needed to advance climate adaptation action. The project will support 40 fellows across two cohorts – 20 in Asia and 20 in Africa – who will participate in a year-long learning process. The International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) will lead the Asia cohort in Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.

Promoting impact

Research for Impact (R4I) Hub:  SouthSouthNorth and ICLEI (in Asia) help strengthen project teams’ ability to design and implement research for impact, help synthesize lessons from the research, identify knowledge brokering opportunities to maximize the uptake of knowledge, and amplify the evidence from CLARE in policy fora.  https://clareprogramme.org/update/clare-r4i-opportunities-fund/

Contact Grace at grace@southsouthnorth.org to discuss your interest in this Fund.

The Capacity Strengthening Hub supports the CLARE initiative to strengthen capacity from research to climate action for sustainable, climate resilient development. The African Centre for Technology Studies and PlanAdapt lead this work.

CLARE Partnerships supports strategic alliances on climate science and adaptation. Currently CLARE is supporting the Adaptation Research Alliance, or ARA  and Climate Risks and Early Warning Systems, CREWS.