Improving Sub-national Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change in Agriculture

Climate change planning capacities and processes vary among the various Southeast Asian countries. But common is the difficulty faced in mobilising local action. In Cambodia, the need for policy that supports climate change adaptation (CCA) mainstreaming into national policies, planning and budgetary processes has affected mainstreaming efforts at sub-national levels (AKP 2010a). In Vietnam, provinces without CC projects are not aware of the issue and have not yet taken any action (AKP 2010b). On the other hand, the Philippines has been responsive in terms of policy. Its Republic Act 9729, approved in 2009, mainstreamed CC into government policy formulations, established the Framework Strategy and Program on Climate Change, and created its Climate Change Commission. The year before, a memorandum circular was issued encouraging all executive councils at the provincial and municipal levels to implement CCA and disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures. Despite this policy support, local government units (LGUs) have a hard time accessing funds and operationalising CCA in development planning (AKP 2012).