Publisher :
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2011
Thematic : Vulnerability Assessment and Disaster Risk Reduction
Language : English
Note
South-East Asia will be strongly affected by the impacts of climate change
according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Technical
Paper VI entitled “Climate Change and Water†(IPCC, 2008). This is due to the
fact that one of the most pressing environmental problems in this part of
the world is the expansion of areas subjected to increasing water stress. In
reference to the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES), it is estimated
that in the next forty years, the number of people that will experience severe
water stress will increase between 4 and 5 times (Arnell, 2004). Monthly
precipitations are expected to decrease in number but increase in intensity.
Dry seasons are expected to be more in number and longer in duration. Thus,
the risks of flooding in the wet season and water shortage in the dry season
are also highly increasing. The general reduction of the rivers’ flow and
the rise in sea level will provoke the intrusion of saltwater in estuaries and
eventually cause a general deterioration of surface and ground water stocks.
These phenomena will impact strongly in the Southeast Asian region, where
8 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), namely,
Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and
Cambodia are given focus in this report. In these countries, the increasing
water stress, the increasing intensity of precipitations and the consequent
floods will provoke the general erosion of the land and, consequently, the
general deterioration of land quality and productivity. These conditions,
coupled with temperature changes and low water quality and availability
impacts negatively on agriculture, in general, and livestock production and
the aquaculture industry, in particular. It means that the vulnerability of the
population will increase because the risks on water and food security are
also increasing. Strategies need to be put in place in order for the general
population to adapt to the changing physical and climatic conditions. And
to enhance the resilience of the socio-economic systems in these countries,
cooperation between local governments and international organizations is
essential.
This desktop study is conducted based on a stocktaking analysis provided
by the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for
Asia (Adaptation Knowledge Platform) in the ASEAN member countries
indicated earlier. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the current state
of adaptation, its status and possibilities, of the region. It also investigates
how these ASEAN countries can learn from each other and from the scientific
community, in order to define some adaptation strategies as possible next
steps and priorities in the status of water and agriculture management
from a socio-economic perspective. The aim of the Adaptation Knowledge
Platform is to verify the state of knowledge in the different countries, identify
the gaps and to try to fill them up.
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Keywords : Backward-in-time integration
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
