This desktop study was conducted as a joint effort between the Southeast Asia Network of Climate Change Focal Points (SEA-CC Net) and the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia (Adaptation Knowledge Platform) to meet the key ASEAN member countries’ needs to review and analyze existing studies on national and regional vulnerabilities as one of the first priority for informed decision making. The overarching objectives of this study are to share up-to-date information on methods, approaches, technologies and status of adaptive capacity of eight selected countries, namely, Lao PDR, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia. The selection provides a representation of the Mekong River Basin and Delta countries with land-locked, low-lying areas as well as countries in the ASEAN with the long coastlines. The research study and synthesis presents the findings on capacity gaps and needs of the eight countries in addressing impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability and climate change. In particular, the study intends to highlight overlaps and gaps in the existing approaches, methods, toolkits, policies and researches in water, agriculture and socio-economic sectors in addressing above issues, to design capacity building and experience sharing activities among the member countries for south-south cooperation. Employing both a climate risk management approach and a development perspective on adaptation, this study also tries to provide country-specific strategies that could be adopted to enhance resilience through actions based on the combination of adaptation and development.
