Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) working with Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) organized the Seminar for the IPCC Special Report on “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation” (SREX) in Bangkok, Thailand during 7 – 8 November 2010 with the generous support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Royal Norwegian Government. The main objective of the Seminar was to provided a venue for the Lead Authors (LA) from different chapters from Asia to exchange ideas and insights prior to the Third Authors’ Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam in March, 2010 to create an overall Asian context for their writing.

        During the opening ceremony, H.E. Mrs. Brattested, the Norwegian Ambassador to Thailand gave the welcome remarks by reminding the participants of the importance of climate change adaptation. Her Excellency used the example of a thunderstorm in Bangkok in the middle of the cool season as a clear testament that the climate change is here and we need to act now. The reduction of carbon level alone is not sufficient and it must be combined with appropriate adaptation strategies for the local communities to effectively handle the effects of climate change.

        The Seminar was attended by Lead Authors from Bangladesh, China, India, Mongolia, Norway, the Philippines, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as scientists, experts and specialists on disaster risk reduction (DRR) from ADPC, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research of Norway and the Royal Thai Government.

        The Seminar was designed to encourage active participation from the LAs and to facilitate information exchange in order to spur new ideas and insights into the SREX. During the course of discussion, various issues and concerns were put forth by the authors and they recognized the tremendous challenge that is in front of them to have one cohesive voice in the report. The consensus among the participants was that more dialogue is needed among the authors to achieve that goal. With the large amount of information that is available, some of the participants also suggested the focus should be put on the consideration of what type of information and material to be left out from the report rather than to emphasis on what should be included.

        The participants appreciated the effort by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Royal Norwegian Government, ADPC and IPCC in organizing the Seminar and suggested the momentum they had created here needs to be carried forward and continued during the Third Authors’ Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam in March 2010.