18 October 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka — Along with a co-organized session with ICCCAD under Stream 3, later on the same day, the APN also held a session under Stream 4 of the Fifth Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum in Colombo, Sri Lanka, themed “Informing decision-making and effective policy reform with research on adaptation measures”.

This session showcases 4 APN projects and their activities that undertake research and/or build capacity on adaptation strategies for enhanced resilience specifically targeted to highlight the importance of science-policy interactions and science-informed decision-making processes. Projects leaders were invited to share the outcomes and highlights of the projects as well as interact with the audience.

Dr. Linda Anne Stevenson, Head of APN Communication and Scientific Affairs Division, moderated the session and summarised the discussions that ensued.

For a full report of the session: S4-PS.4 Report

Communicating and operationalizing site-specific climate change adaptation strategies in selected vulnerable upland communities in Southeast Asia
Dr. Christine Wulandari, Indonesia Network for Agroforestry Education (INAFE), Indonesia, email: [email protected]

Integrated resilience based planning for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Asia-Pacific cities
Dr. Ayyoob Sharifi, Executive Director, Global Carbon Project (GCP), National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan, email: [email protected]

Enhancing capacity of policy makers and practitioners in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal for adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies
Ms. Vositha Wijenayake, Policy & Advocacy Coordinator Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), Sri Lanka, email: [email protected]

Necessary but not sufficient – Why improving the evidence-base on community-based adaptation is not enough for effective and equitable climate action
Ms. Thea Konstantinidis, Policy and Advocacy Advisor of the Climate Change Working Group (CCWG), Vietnam, email: [email protected]

Dr. Stevenson summarised the session by stressing some key points:

• Reducing vagueness/ operationalizing the concept
• Benchmarking performance against peers
• Enhancing accountability of authorities
• Identifying gaps and prioritize resource allocation
• Functioning as a risk communication tool
• Functioning as a planning support system
• Lowering insurance rates could be rewarded to projects
• Enhancing participatory approaches to enhance social capital
• Increasing interaction across actors, sectors, and scales
• Capacity building is needed to decrease the gap between scientists and policy makers

NOTE TO EDITORS:

About the APN:

The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) is a network of 22 Member Country governments that promotes global change research in the region, increases developing country involvement in that research, and strengthens interactions between the science community and policy makers.

APN was established in 1996 and its Secretariat is based in Kobe, Japan. APN supports its member countries via annual open calls for research and capacity development proposals under its core programmes and frameworks, and by organising events such as science-policy dialogues and proposal development training workshops to engage the participation of scientists and policy makers in achieving its science and policy agendas.

Additional resources

For more information, please contact:

• Dr. Linda Anne Stevenson, Head, Division of Communication and Scientific Affairs, APN Secretariat, email: [email protected]
• Ms. Dinh Huong Long, Programme Fellow, APN Secretariat, email: [email protected]