Extreme weather events have devastating consequences on communities, threatening both lives and livelihoods, where both low and high-income economies are increasingly feeling the impacts of climate change. According to GermanWatch, nearly 500,000 people died due to more than 12,000 extreme weather events globally and losses amounted to around US$3.54 trillion from 1999-2018.

Furthermore, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic adds to the already existing deluge of weather events starting from cyclones to floods with consequent outbreaks of water/vector-borne diseases demonstrating how disaster impacts cascade, converge and threaten the very chains that hold economic and social systems together.

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), in collaboration with and funding from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, conducted a training series on climate-related loss and damage within climate risk management (CRM).

The training aimed to raise awareness on the importance of a comprehensive approach to disaster and CRM to avert, minimize and address loss and damage from climate change. Over 100 decision-makers, planners, practitioners, and academia across the Asia and the Pacific region learned how to implement adequate CRM measures in their respective countries.

Mr. Hans Guttman, Executive Director of ADPC, speaking at the closing ceremony.

Mr. Hans Guttman, Executive Director of ADPC, discussed capacity development in climate risk management during the closing ceremony. Mr. Guttman explained that the project created a pool of master trainers to enhance stakeholder capacities at national levels.

Mr. Guttman also highlighted that the training will help mainstream loss and damages into the work of ADPC’s member countries, strengthening the capacities of both government and non-government stakeholders in the near future.

Participants attending the closing ceremony.

The training consisted of a VIP seminar, regional Training of Trainers (ToT), and digital training to reach a variety of stakeholders from 8 July to 31 August 2021. It was part of the second phase of the GIZ’s Global Programme on Risk Assessment and Management for Adaptation to Climate Change (Loss and Damage) funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The training also facilitated international exchange among governmental actors, non-governmental, governmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector to enable the development of cross-sector concepts and planning strategies in the field of CRM.

ADPC, GiZ, and the Mekong River Commission (MRC) co-organized the first phase of the global programme with an expert conference on building climate resilience towards loss and damage in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

The conference brought together over 60 participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam for interregional exchange and knowledge transfer on the overarching topic of comprehensive CRM. Learn more about the first phase in ADPC’s 2019 Annual Report.