Hanoi, Viet Nam, 26 February 2018 – In his welcome remarks to participants of the Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) workshop, APN Secretariat Director, Mr. Seiji Tsutsui underscored that “Southeast Asia is a natural disaster-prone region, and it is predicted that disasters such as floods, typhoons, high-tides and landslides will be more extreme because of the increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and increasing population concentration in urban areas.”
The TNA workshop on climate change mitigation and adaptation, currently ongoing today and running until the 27 February 2018 in Hanoi, Viet Nam, is aimed at enhancing the technology transfer, deployment, and dissemination of climate change solutions thus supporting the goals of the Paris Agreement to further promote and facilitate environmentally sound technologies for mitigation and adaptation in Southeast Asian countries. Technological innovations are one of the key solutions to addressing climate change and specifically in reducing carbon and GHG emissions as mandated by the UNFCCC. However, most of the key technological innovations have not reached many of the developing countries and vulnerable communities, particularly those in Southeast Asia; therefore, it is important that the region has the capacity and knowledge needed to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of the changing environment and assessments such as the TNA workshop is indispensable.
Supported by APN in collaboration with the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, the workshop endeavours to support developing countries in identifying national priorities for both adaptation and mitigation, with a strong focus on technology transfer. Discussions are based on the understanding of the critical importance of conducting technology assessments that address cross-cutting issues in sectors such as energy, waste, water and tropical agricultural as well as some specific industrial processes.
In line with the TNA workshop, a Proposal Development Training Workshop (PDTW) with the theme “Disaster Risk Management and Community Resilience in Southeast Asia,” scheduled from 28 February to 2 March 2018, targets to capacitate more than 20 selected young scientists and practitioners from the Southeast Asia region on developing collaborative research proposals and networking. At the end of the workshop, it is expected that the participants will become knowledgeable on proposal development and familiarized with topics of priority in Southeast Asia, which include disaster risk reduction and management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and building resilience to climate change impacts.
Additionally, the Southeast Asia Sub-Regional Committee Meeting of APN will be held on 3 March 2018. Members of the Committee will discuss the outputs of the workshops, the future direction of the Southeast Asia region and how it can continue to contribute to implementing high-quality research and capacity building programmes that underpin scientific input to policymaking.
Related article regarding the TNA workshop: VAST press release | MONRE press relase
