Toward a Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Umbrella Program in Southeast Asia: A Proposed Framework for Collaboration

Southeast Asia is highly vulnerable to climate change since a large proportion of its population is concentrated along its coastlines with livelihoods that rely on agriculture and natural resources, including fisheries and forestry. The region is annualy affected by climate extremes, particularly floods, droughts, and tropical cyclones, threatening the livelihood of poor people living in rural areas who have limited adaptive capacity (IFAD 2009).

Climate change in Southeast Asia is expected to lead to significant variations in precipitation patterns, increased incidence of severe weather events, higher temperatures, and sea level rise in many highly populated coastal regions. These changes will negatively impact agricultural yields, biodioversity, forest harvests, and the availability of clean water. It will laso lead to greater incidence of diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever (ADB 2019).