2 - Climate Change and Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia

Summary

Dedicated Mechanisms for Regional Cooperation on Climate Change

Introduction

Climate change adaptation, alongside with climate change mitigation, is often regarded as a means to dealing with the potential devastating effects of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines mitigation as “an anthropogenic intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases”. Climate change adaptation is referred to as an “adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities”. In other words, while climate change mitigation has the general objective of reducing carbon emission, climate change adaptation aims to increase resilience against possible future climate events. Unlike its climate change mitigation counterpart, however, climate change adaptation often receives lesser attention from policymakers.

The uncertain nature of future climate events contributes significantly to the lagging behind of climate change adaptation initiatives vis-à-vis climate change mitigation. Furthermore, while carbon emission reduction can be measured with relative ease thanks to the availability of tools such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, estimating the level of climate resilience built upon climate change adaptation interventions is not as straightforward. “Timeframe, uncertainty and reverse logic of adaptation, messiness and complexity of adaptation, lack of baseline data, no defined yardsticks for success, and lack of resources and coordination” are some of the identified challenges that render climate change adaptation a less favourable option for policymakers.

Despite an apparent lack of preferences for climate change adaptation, its relevance will become more pronounced as disaster events are increasingly attributed to the changing climate. Working on pre-emptive measures to respond to climate eventualities will result in community preparedness and resilience against potential attendant disasters. As climate change impacts various aspects of human lives in different ways, building climate resilience is key to ensuring the continuity and sustainability of the society.

One way of operationalizing climate change adaptation is through the applications of technology. The concept is not entirely new as local communities have long incorporated traditional practices to deal with climate-induced events such as flooding.