The Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP) organised two sessions at the 5th Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 17 to 19 October 2016. The two sessions were entitled Adaptation Knowledge Networks: Lessons from the Region, and Enabling access to climate finance: Experiences from the Asia-Pacific Region.
The session on Adaptation Knowledge Networks, chaired by Ms. Alla Metelitsa, Head of Climate Change at RRC.AP, brought together three leading knowledge networks from around the globe – Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) covering North America, Regional Gateway for Technology Transfer and Climate Change Action (REGATTA) for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) for which the RRC.AP is a pioneering core technical partner. The presentations of these three networks explored the ingredients of a successful regional knowledge network, cost-effective mechanisms of knowledge sharing, and ways of measuring the impacts of the knowledge networks.
Through the discussions, it was clear that the success of knowledge networks is achieved through the synthesis of quality information in ways that are clear and actionable for adaptation practitioners and made available through a platform with functionality and ease of access as primary considerations. With the growing number of online users of knowledge exchange platforms, the emerging challenge is to ensure the sustainability of operations of Regional Adaptation Networks to enable and maintain stakeholders to access, share and utilise adaptation knowledge required for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The ways to achieve this sustainability could include broadening a donor base, promoting South-South cooperation and building partnerships of regional organisations that would provide in-kind support. As a takeaway message, adaptation knowledge is in big demand and the regional adaptation networks have proven to be an effective mean to collect, generate, repackage and widely disseminate this knowledge.
The session on Enabling access to climate finance, chaired by Ms. Pooja Sawhney, Coordinator of Climate Change Asia (CCA) – A regional initiative whose secretariat and operational unit is hosted by the RRC.AP, brought together key players in the region's climate finance landscape. The session showcased experiences and perspectives from Multilateral Implementing Entities, Development Finance Institutions (DFI), and International organisations duly represented by United Nations Development Programme, Climate Change Asia, Climate Investment Funds (CIF), USAID Adapt Asia-Pacific, and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) respectively.
A common understanding reached through this session is that climate finance is more than just access to climate funds. It is the combination of management, planning, access, implementation, monitoring, and the capacity to perform tasks effectively. The main challenge then is how to build and sustain the capacity of governments to effectively adapt to the effects and impacts of climate change.
A critical insight is that there is no dearth of funds for climate adaptation. Instead, what is lacking are well developed bankable projects proposals brought about by two main issues: (i) there is a huge deficit in capacity building in the region, and (ii) the difficulty in scaling up successful adaptation pilots and demonstrations as well as scaling down and replication of large-scale projects.
To address the core problem of developing bankable proposals and therefore enable climate financing for adaptation, the way forward includes: (1) ensuring that the capacity of key actors including governments, national financial institutions and practitioners are built to manage project preparation and formulate, implement, and monitor projects effectively; and (2) encouraging the national government and the education system to see the development process through a climate change lens and recognise adaptation as development done right.
In addition, the RRC.AP also participated in the open exhibit where key organisations in the region such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Climate Investment Funds (CIF), Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), BRACED Programme of UK-AID, and Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) put up booths to showcase knowledge products, introduce respective scopes of work, and interface with more than 800 participants of the forum.
