Risk financing for climate resilience (2013-2015)
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.
While helping communities cope with events with low and moderate impacts, these strategies may be insufficient as weather-related shocks become more extreme and frequent with climate change. A lack of effective climate risk financing mechanisms creates a cycle of vulnerability and compromises long-term development. To deal with extreme shocks, many poor households are forced to incur additional debts, distress-sell productive assets, reduce food expenses, and cut education spending. These strategies deplete productive assets, drive poorer households into chronic poverty, and undermine their capacity to adapt to climate change long-term.
CEP investigated the role of risk financing in climate change adaptation strategies for rural communities in the GMS. Initial work is a scoping assessment to identify viable local-level financial instruments and strategies that could provide households with financial protection. Community Development Funds will be looked at as a potential mechanism for risk financing initiatives such as savings, micro-insurance, and 'risk pooling.' The study looked at 28 communities involved in the Biodiversity Conservation Corridor project in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam.
The findings of the study were summarized in a publication: Risk Financing for Rural Climate Reslience in the Greater Mekong Subregion
Resources
| File Name | Size | Modified |
|---|---|---|
| Concept Note-CEP Phase II Climate Change Adaptation.pdf | 236 KB | 18-12-2013 |
| Concept Note-CEP Phase II Risk Financing for Climate Resilience.pdf | 228 KB | 18-12-2013 |
| CC Risk Financing Report-Key Findings.pdf | 3 MB | 15-06-2015 |
| CC Risk Financing Report.pdf | 7 MB | 15-06-2015 |
| Household survey data.zip | 5 MB | 11-05-2016 |
| Census data in Lao and Cambodia 2008 - 2009_1.zip | 1 MB | 11-05-2016 |
Publish Date: 16th September 2013
Last Updated: 18th May 2017
See also
Lao PDR: Improving Lives and Saving Forests
In the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, a community is creating products without damaging the environment, and empowering women in the process.
GMS Working Group on Environment 24th Annual Meeting
The 24th 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 Operations Center.
The WGE AM-24 was followed by thematic discussions that covered the proposed new programs entitled: "GMS Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Program (CCESP)" and "GMS Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security Program (SAFSP)" which are aligned with three out of seven operational priorities of Strategy 2030 approved by the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board in 2018.
The CCESP will focus on ADB Strategy 2030’s operational priority: tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability, while SAFSP will focus on ADB Strategy 2030’s operational priority: promoting rural development and food security. Both programs will support ADB Strategy 2030’s operational priority: fostering regional cooperation and integration.