The Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia (AKP) grew out of a recognition that countries across the region faced potentially dramatic climate change impacts, but lacked the knowledge and capacity to effectively reduce vulnerability and plan for a more climate-resilient future. AKP set out to fill this gap by building a strong network of local researchers to gather new knowledge on the ground, bring world-class adaptation expertise to the stakeholders who need it, test new approaches, and share the results with their peers, decision-makers and civil society across the region.
The goal of AKP was to facilitate climate change adaptation (CCA) in Asia at local, national and regional levels and strengthen adaptive capacity. The purpose of AKP was to establish a regionally and nationally owned mechanism that facilitates the integration of CCA into national and regional economic and development policies, processes and plans, strengthens linkages between CCA and sustainable development agenda in the region, and enhances institutional and research capacity. To achieve this, AKP took a three-tiered approach: knowledge management and sharing; generation of new knowledge, and application of existing and new knowledge. AKP was supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Initial partners are the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia (SENSA), UNEP and AIT RRC.AP, which hosted its Secretariat.
In adition to the secretariat services, RRC.AP took the lead in knowledge management and sharing at the regional level, targeting a wide audience of CCA communities. RRC.AP conducted two multi-stakeholder forums and seven targeted and context-specific learning seminars to brainstorm on specific theme/sector linkages with climate change. The numbers of sponsoring organisations and participants increased for both forums and seminars. RRC.AP also developed a CCA web portal that showcased over 500 knowledge products, connecting with a total of 21 knowledge partners. The web portal was successfully carried over to the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network, maintaining as one-stop knowledge shop for existing CCA information in the region.
RRCAP also took a vital role in synthesizing existing and new knowledge on CCA. RRC.AP coordinated scoping assessments on gaps, needs and priority activities for advancing CCA knowledge and capacity in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, and initiated pilot activities in Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Philippines aimed at translating knowledge collected from the scoping assessments into a practice. For example, in the Philippines, based on the priority activities identified from the scoping assessment as well as demands expressed by local government units, RRC.AP facilitated capacity building dialogues and write-shop workshops aimed enabling local governments to adopt a more trans-disciplinary approach in crafting local development plans. One of the major achievements from these activities is formulation of a toolkit on integration of CCA in local development planning and budgeting processes.
