Climate Change

The 24^th Annual Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Working Group (WG) on Environment reviewed the achievements of the GMS Core Environment Program Phase II and discussed the way forward. WGE AM-24 was hosted by the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) with support from ADB through the GMS Environment ...

Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Climate Change and Environment Sustainability Program (CCESP): The proposed knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) on CCESP will build on the key achievements of two phases of the Core Environment Program and support the implementation of the GMS Core Environment Program Strategic Framework and Action Plan 2018-2022, which was endorsed at the Fifth GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting held in 2018. The CCESP will focus on creating enabling conditions to leverage additional investment in priority areas such as (i) green technologies and sustainable infrastructure; (ii) natural resources and ecosystem services; and (iii) green growth, climate resilience and disaster risk management.

These guidelines aim to help GMS climate change practitioners and planners to embrace more robust, participatory, and integrated watershed planning processes that anticipate climate change vulnerabilities and identify opportunities to minimize them. The guidelines introduce the basic concepts of watershed vulnerability and adaptation assessments (W-VAAs), key principles and steps to conduct them, and overviews the tools that can be used.

This video introduces how green freight approaches can provide environmental and economic win-wins for the transport sector in the GMS.

At this Roundtable, the edited version of the Watershed-scale Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment guidelines will be reviewed.

Rural communities in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) are vulnerable to climate-related disasters. In 2008, tropical cyclone Nargis killed 84,500 people and impacted the livelihoods of 2.4 million people. In 2011, large-scale floods in Thailand affected 14 million people and caused $45.7 billion in damages.

This two-part workshop brought together government and private sector transport sector representatives to discuss the results, challenges and opportunities of the Core Environment Program’s GMS Green Freight Initiative.

The third and final workshop in CEP’s training module on integrating climate change adaptation into local planning focused on identifying and implementing adaptation options.

Green infrastructure can play a significant role in offsetting losses from climate-related disasters and contribute to building resilience through rehabilitation and expansion of natural ecosystems within built areas.

With the first joint knowledge product on Watershed-scale Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment guidelines now finalized, this 12^th Roundtable event will discuss a dissemination plan and capacity building plan.

This training workshop was the second in a series of three that aim to build the capacity of government planners in the GMS to work with communities to integrate climate change adaptation into local level development planning.

Asian policy makers are willing partners in the global effort against climate change. But the region can and must go beyond current national pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and hold global warming short of catastrophe.

A Green Freight and Logistics Day was held as a pre-event to the 9th Better Air Quality Conference in Buson, South Korea, to highlight green freight intiatives in Asia and key lessons and opportunities for future scaling up.

Truck drivers from over 100 freight companies in Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam have undergone eco-driving training as the Green Freight Initiative tests ways to lessen the environmental impacts of freight transport in the GMS.

This workshop was the first in a series of three that aim to build the capacity of government planners in the GMS to work with communities to integrate climate change adaptation into local level development planning.

Government officials, international experts, and private representatives from Southeast Asian countries met in Bangkok for two days to develop a regional agenda to scale up ‘green freight’ in the region.

This report summarizes the  $2.47 billion of investments in clean energy made by ADB in 2015, condensing information from project databases and formal reports in an easy-to-reference format.

 ...

Partners at the 10^th Roundtable reviewed their recently drafted guidelines for watershed/landscape-scale vulnerability and adaptation assessments. They also discussed how the guidelines could be effectively disseminated, including the potential of developing training modules.

This ADB study focuses on ?ve countries of Southeast Asia that collectively account for 90% of regional GHG emissions inrecent years—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. ...

This 2-day workshop brought together government and international organization representatives to share experiences, information, tools, and discuss collaborative opportunities to improve the sustainable management of important landscapes in the GMS.

With support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the GMS Core Environment Program is strengthening regional collaboration to manage key transboundary biodiversity landscapes in the GMS.

A major challenge in promoting investments in natural capital is to produce solid evidence on the economic value of ecosystem services and ensure this evidence informs development planning and investment decisions.

Government and development partners met in Kunming to discuss current work and future priorities to strengthen transboundary collaboration for the Mekong Headwaters transboundary landscape under the CEP-led GMS Forest and Biodiversity Regional Support Project.

A new approach to integrated water resource management based on community participation is tapping into local knowledge to protect Thailand's territory from the increasingly severe flooding driven by climate change.

This ADB report describes the conduct of the cost-benefit analysis of climate proofing investment projects. An important message is that the presence of uncertainty about climate change does not invali...

Building on the seventh roundtable held in June, partners at this eighth roundtable discussed analytical tools for assessing basin-scale climate change vulnerability and looked at the processes involved and lessons learnt from application in the GMS. 

At this seventh roundtable, partners continued deliberations initiated at the sixth roundtable in April. These included joint visioning to specify the long-term goals of the roundtable and identifying collaborative activities arising from the Watershed Adaptation to Climate Change (WACC) Project.

The CEP-supported Roundtable meetings have become a platform for development organizations with active adaptation programs in the GMS to share knowledge, brainstorm approaches, and engage in an ongoing dialogue. 

This brief summarizes lessons learned from green freight feasibility analyses conducted under the GMS Core Environment Program between 2010 and 2014. It presents five key messages that policymakers and...

The brief summarizes the current state of GMS knowledge and experience on ecosystem-based approaches. It draws upon work of the GMS Core Environment Program and partner institutions, including findings...

Looking forward to the Fourth GMS Environment Ministers Meeting (EMM4) and identifying roundtable collaboration priorities in 2015

At the fourth roundtable , partners identified the natural capital themed EMM4, scheduled for January 2015, as a key opportunity to influence environment leaders and policy makers. 

The Core Environment Program (CEP) ensured green freight issues were high on the agenda at the BAQ-EST conference, which brought together more than 1000 participants under the theme ‘Next Generation Solutions for Clean Air and Sustainable Transport.

This ADB report features how ADB applies climate risk management approach to investment projects in Asia and the Pacific, which aims to reduce risks resulting from climate change.

The National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) will undertake a case study on assessing climate change vulnerability and adaptation options in a ridge-to-reef setting that can serve to strengthen national and regional knowledge on appropriate assessment methodologies. The proposed site of the case study is the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park (SIEP) and its environs in Petchaburi Province.  A partnership arrangement has been established between the NRCT and the United States Forest Service (USFS) to undertake part of this work.

Transboundary biodiversity landscapes in the GMS are rich in natural capital, but are increasingly under threat from development and climate change pressures, leading to environmental degradation and more vulnerable local communities.

Collaboration with Roundtable Partners on the Fourth GMS Environment Ministers Meeting (EMM4) and the Regional Investment Framework (RIF)

At this fourth roundtable, partners discussed opportunities to raise the profile of climate change issues among environment leaders in the GMS and to ensure that environmental considerations are better integrated into the GMS Regional Investment Framework’s (RIF) $50 billion project pipeline.

This series of posters show how inefficient freight truck fleets in the GMS are impacting the environment, why greener trucks will benefit both businesses and environment, and how this will be achieved...

This ADB publication features the outcomes of a workshop on Green Freight and Logistics in Asia, co-organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für InternationaleZusamm...

Bridging the Divide: Linking Science-based Adaptation Approaches and Climate Change Policy-making in the GMS

This third in a series of roundtable discussions bought together climate change experts and government officials to discuss how climate change adaptation science can better inform policy making in the GMS.

This paper examines four environmental dimensions of energy security—climate change, air pollution, water availability and quality, and land-use change—and the environmental impact of ...

This report summarizes the investments in clean energy made by the operations departments of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2013, condensing information from project databases and formal repo...

This report presents the methodology and lessons from a climate change adaptation study conducted by the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Core Environment Program. The study yielded a framework and metho...

This document presents ADB’s experience in the development of CIF programs and highlights some of the innovative transformations anticipated or already achieved by ADB projects using CIF funding. <...

This book is first in a series of a three-volume publication on the environments of the poor, and contains selected papers on Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific from a conference organized in 2...

The freight sector in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is emerging as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, driven in part by regional economic cooperation and the associated development of economic corridors. In order to test interventions that could mitigate increases in emissions from freight transport, pilot projects are being implemented in Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam through the GMS Green Freight Initiative .

This workshop was organized within the context of a UN ESCAP project entitled “Pro-poor and sustainable solid waste management in secondary cities and small towns”. As part of this project, ESCAP ...

Key development partners and programs working in the GMS met to share information and discuss areas of collaboration on climate change initiatives in the region. The meeting, hosted by EOC, was used to...

This three-day conference held in Chiang Rai was organized by the Asia-Pacific Adaptation Network to facilitate discussion and share lessons about climate change adaptation, resilience and urban biodiversity in Southeast Asia.

A workshop to synergize landscape and livelihood activities between CEP and the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors project (BCC) in the provinces of Quang Nam, T.T. Hue and Quang Tri was held in Hue, Viet Nam. The workshop, which included provincial and central government representatives, aimed to raise awareness about the biodiversity conservation pilot projects conducted during CEP Phase I and to discuss how planned activities under CEP Phase II can align with ongoing BCC work.

The 4^th Joint Committee Meeting for the Greater Mekong Subregion Cross-Border Transport Agreement was held in Yangon, Myanmar on 21-22 November 2013.

The Asia Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) Forum aims to facilitate regional coordination; share tools, models, approaches, and best practices; and increase capacity and readiness of practitioners to lead and implement LEDS and green growth initiatives. Policymakers, donors, practitioners, and other experts involved in developing low-emission strategies in Asia will attend the annual event.

This workshop brought together government representatives and development partners to share experiences on measuring greenhouse gases from the transport sector. Naeeda Crishna Morgado, Climate Change M...

Rural households and communities in the GMS employ a wide range of strategies to minimize the impact of climatic shocks. These include crop and labor diversification, personal savings, investments in semi-liquid assets such as livestock, and informal risk pooling arrangements among peers.

A number of development organizations in the GMS are working closely with the countries to help them more effectively integrate climate change considerations into development decisions.

The freight and logistics sector in the GMS plays a pivotal role in supporting the expansion of trade, and in turn, economic growth. A 2010 Core Environment Program study of the GMS East-West Economic Corridor – connecting Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam - found that promoting green freight through improved logistics management and fuel efficiency measures could reduce GHG emissions and lower freight company fuel costs.

Forests in the GMS are important carbon sinks, provide valuable eco-system services, contain extensive and unique biodiversity, and are an important source of livelihood for millions of local people, many of whom live in poverty. The on-going destruction and damage to natural forests in the GMS through over-exploitation has long been one of the major environmental challenges facing the subregion. In response, GMS countries are engaging in REDD+ (“Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation”).

This ADB report was produced under the Technical Assistance Grant: Determining the Potential for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Southeast Asia (TA 7575-REG), and is focused on an assessment of the...

A workshop held in Ha Noi yesterday put forward the idea of green freight pilot projects for trucking SME companies in Viet Nam. Attended by 35 participants from transport authorities, freight companies, associations, universities and NGOs, the meeting was hosted by the Director General, Department of Environment, Ministry of Transport.

Climate change and associated extreme weather events will have a significant impact on economic growth and human development in the GMS. Key sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and tourism support economic growth and local livelihoods and are highly dependent on climate-sensitive natural resources including forests, water resources, biodiversity and other ecosystem services. 

The Better Air Quality (BAQ) conference is an event on air quality in Asia, covering transport, energy, industry and climate change, with a particular emphasis on government policies and measures. BAQ 2012 was co-organized by the Clean Air Initiative-Asia (CAI-Asia), the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and in partnership with the Asian Development Bank and World Bank. 

Rural communities in the GMS are particularly vulnerable to climate change. While there is considerable indigenous knowledge within communities on managing climate-related risks, understanding how a community’s vulnerability profile will change from climate and non-climate risks is essential for empowering local people to develop strategies for a climate-resilient future.

With support from ADB, ‘economic corridors’ are being developed across the GMS to improve transport connectivity and facilitate trade.  An upsurge in traffic and development along these corridors is leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions and environmental changes. These need to be carefully managed to ensure environmental sustainability.

A major international conference, "GMS 2020: Balancing Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability," was held by CEP in February 2012 in Bangkok,Thailand. The conference benchmarked GMS economic growth between 2001 and 2010 and its impact on environmental and social development as well as provided an outlook for the next decade.

This publication illustrates how climate change activities are being integrated across CEP programs. A case study of Peam Krasaob Province, Cambodia, demonstrates how vulnerability and adaptation capac...

This policy brief draws on current research to overview the anticipated climate change impacts in the GMS, particularly those relating to air pollution. In its key messages, the brief highlights ten ad...