5th Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum

17 October 2016 to 19 October 2016

The 5th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum  took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka in October 2016. The forum brought together policymakers, scientists, donors, youth, and representatives from over 50 countries. 
 
For 2016, the theme “Adapting and Living below 2°C:  Bridging the Gaps in Policy & Practice” explored platforms and concrete pathways for even greater partnerships by governments, civil society and business.  With the growing interest and with the recognition of adaptation not only as a development imperative but as an existential one as well, APAN welcomed more than 800 participants.
 
Sessions were organised under four workstreams: Adaptation Planning, Adaptation Financing, Climate Resilient Development and Multi-actor Cross Learning. UNDP and UNEP led on the Adaptation Planning workstream, through the NAP-GSP, while UNDP and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) led on the Adaptation Financing workstream.
 
Various technical sessions under this stream wcovered adaptation planning as a tool for long-term vulnerability reduction, best practices for maximizing CCA-DRR-SD synergies, climate services for addressing uncertainty in adaptation planning, mainstreaming climate change into development planning, and monitoring progress. It also included discussions on the UN-NAP as a financing and investment framework for Climate Change Adaptation.
 
The NAP-GSP organised NAP Regional Training for Asia and the Pacific was held immediately after the APAN Forum, running from 20-22 October 2016. This brought together delegates from Ministries of Environment, Planning and Finance from Asia Pacific developing countries, to learn more about how to advance their NAP, and to discuss and share experiences of their NAP processes.