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Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

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Project • CRRP2023-08MY-Cruz

Climatic hazard assessment to enhance resilience against climate extremes for Southeast Asian megacities (CARE for SEA megacities)

Climate extremes (e.g. extreme heat, flooding, drought, etc) have brought significant losses and damages to Southeast Asia (SEA) countries, especially to megacities such as Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila. Recent climate projections indicate more intense and more frequent climate extremes in SEA with every additional global warming. As these cities continually grow, it is crucial their development is guided by relevant climate information to ensure their resilience to future climate hazards. However, currently available climate information does not have sufficiently high spatial and temporal resolutions, necessary for climate extremes analysis for cities. This project builds on the knowledge, capacity and collaboration established in CORDEX-SEA in the past decade through APN support, and brings in expertise of new collaborators in urban climate research. It aims to generate policy-relevant information on future climatic impact-drivers, focusing on hazards in SEA megacities under Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios. High-resolution climate information will be generated using various downscaling approaches, including dynamical (with urban physics model), statistical, and novel land-surface physics-based downscaling approach. This project also aims to strengthen collaboration of CORDEX-SEA with other researchers, and with local policymakers and stakeholders to co-produce policy-relevant climate information for adaptation and disaster risk reduction planning.