Desktop Study on - Regional Climate Change Adaptation ...

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<strong>Desktop</strong> <strong>Study</strong> climate change impacts on the natural ecosystems (UNDP and WREA, 2009). Effectively, Lao PDR’s socio-economic development has seen significant adverse effects due to climatic extreme event such as floods and drought occurring in past years (Lao PDR, 2009a). Especially, the agricultural sector, being affected by climate change, is a major contributor to the economy of Lao PDR and the livelihood of its people. Besides the income, employment, and food security affected, water and forestry resources as well as public health are other socio-economic aspects are influenced by climate change. Indeed, climate change seems to cause an exacerbation of already existing man-made environmental risks such as environmental degradation as well as of natural disasters (Lao PDR, 2009a). Also, socio-economic conditions and food insecurity of Lao’s rural population appear to be strongly related: According to the WFP-study (2007) on Lao PDR’s food security situation, people affected by food insecurity tend to be farmers that are lowly educated, illiterate, from non-Lao-Thai ethnic groups, practicing farming in upland and highly sloped areas, and living in villages with poor sanitary and infrastructural conditions. Adaptation In the Lao Province of Attapeu, a vulnerability assessment of climate risks was carried out under the Mekong Wetlands Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Programme in 2005 (ADPC, 2005). The study recommended enhanced livelihood options to being less vulnerable to severe flooding and droughts. Options to diversify activities in an agrarian economy include agro-processing, eco-/ agro-tourism, and the promotion of traditional handicrafts. The availability of credit systems for village communities is proposed as another option for supporting sustainable livelihoods (ADPC, 2005). A study on local coping mechanisms in disaster management has been published in 2002, focusing on how rural poor in Laos are applying coping mechanisms in response to shocks to their livelihoods caused by disasters (Brahmi and Poumphone, 2002). The study revealed that there is a considerable gap between the perception of the government and most development practitioners, on the one hand, and the perception of the poor population, on the other hand, with respect to the definition of a `disaster´. The latter can be distinguished between a `big disaster´ and `ongoing disasters´. The investigation revealed that recurrent seasonal human diseases constitute the greatest threat to the people’s livelihoods, since human labour constitutes the essential resource for the provision of food through hunting, fishing, and agriculture. In the case of illness, the level of subsistence cannot be sustained besides disasters bring varying degree of coping scope. Also, the study shows that currently ongoing economic, socio-cultural and environmental changes in Laos significantly impact the indigenous coping capacity of the poor’s’ livelihoods. The critical changes include rapid population growth, expansion of the market economy, and the relocation of communities from forested mountains to valleys, which leads to the incapacity of populations to adapt the food production to unfamiliar environment and market conditions, and to withstand lowland diseases and climatic conditions. The access to market, for instance, seems to have affected the use of kinship and solidarity as coping mechanisms in the case of disasters. The recommendation formulated in the study is that disaster management must be mainstreamed into rural development programming. According to the study, there is already some evidence that disaster management programs in Laos are already increasingly focusing on addressing the causes of the population’s vulnerability to disasters for mitigating their effects (Brahmi and Poumphone, 2002). Institutional Responses Poverty reduction is a key goal of the Lao PDR government and constitutes the basis for the Government policies formulated in the National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy (NGPES) in 2003, aiming at overcoming Lao PDR’s status of a LDC by 2020 (Lao PDR, 2009a). Also, thanks to education development plans, progress in the education level of the population could be achieved, with the adult literacy rate rising from 73% in 2005 to 77% in 2007. Overall, Lao PDR has improved its position in the Human Development Index of the United Nations from rank 141 (out of 173) in 1993 to the rank 133 (out of 179) in 2009 (Lao PDR, 2009a). In 2006, the Sixth National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) 2006-2010 was published (Lao PDR, 2006). This Plan aims at supporting the achievement of the goals that were outlined in the Ten-Year Socio-Economic Development Strategy (2001-2010), including the establishment of a fast and stable development. The Plan’s targets and indicators mostly coincide with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Brussels Programme of Action for Least Developed countries (2001-2010) (Lao PDR, 2006). It has to be noted, however, that the NSEDP does not address the threat posed through climate change to the country’s development. 24
Assessment of Capacity Gaps and Needs of South East Asia Countries in Addressing Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Variability and Climate Change Gaps Identified in Programs and Studies Brahmi and Poumphone (2002) concluded in their study that the media coverage as well as the relief funds and development assistances mainly focus on big disasters such as floods affecting densely populated . These regions are rice-producing areas of the country and relatively the `well off’ section of the society, having access to fertile paddy land and infrastructure. The majority of the poorest communities and often ethnic minority groups are living in remote forests or mountainous regions and are not considered under the financial economic and technical support programs (Brahmi and Poumphone, 2002). Although, the high importance of water for the socio-economic development is recognized (ADB, 2004; Lao PDR, 2009a), the NAPA observes that the institutional framework for the management of water resources is still considered weak (Lao PDR, 2009a). In order to cope with growing demands on and limited supply of water resources – especially, in view of the need to adapt to climate change – a high priority project for strengthening institutional and human resource capacities in the water sector is proposed in the NAPA (Lao PDR, 2009a). Furthermore, farm level applications in both water and food security sectors are necessary to understand the adaptive capacity of a household or farmers and to explain the socio-economic status of communities in Lao PDR for appropriate measures. Recent Projects in the Socio- Economic Sector A project titled, `Climate Impact and Adaptation Sectoral Strategy for Rural Infrastructure in Lao PDR´ has been introduced by the ADB (ADB, 2009a). This is a nine months pilot study under the ADB’s Small Grant Facility (SGF) and its Climate Change Adaptation in Asia and the Pacific program. The project is being currently implemented by the consulting firm, RMSI and will investigate the impact of climate change on irrigation infrastructure and other agricultural infrastructure, and ensuing policy implications (flood risk assessment). The project is undertaken in the Southern provinces of Savannakhet, Saravane, Sekong, Attapeu and Champassak. The resolution of the risk assessment modelling will be at district and sub-basin levels. If successful, the project is seen as a precursor to a larger regional initiative. The main objective of this ADB SGF <strong>Study</strong> is to reduce climate change-induced flooding impacts on rural infrastructure and agriculture in Southern Lao PDR. Activities include the collection of data and the application of a hydrological model, climate impact flood hazard-mapping for the Southern river basin, national and provincial strategies workshops, and the dissemination of Geographic Information System (GIS)-based flood risk maps (ADB, 2009a). In October 2009, a project on the northern rural structure development, funded by the ADB, was approved (ADB, 2009b). The project aims to enhance and diversify livelihood opportunities for rural communities in Northern Lao PDR through investment in rural,agricultural productivity and market access. With relevant to climate change adaptation, the project provides the basis for mainstreaming climate change considerations into rural infrastructure investments and to implement cost-effective climate proofing measures in order to ensure the long-term protection of infrastructure (ADB, 2009b). CROSS-SECTORAL INSTITUTIONAL SETTINGS Two domains are identified as cross-sectoral institutional settings-climate change and disaster risk reduction. Climate Change Climate change has only in recent years become a high priority policy issue in Lao PDR (Roth, 2009). Lao PDR begun its climate change journey in 1995 with the ratification to the United Nations Framework Convention to Climate Change (UNFCCC) and by joining the Kyoto Protocol in 2003 (UNDP, 2009b). To deal with the increased challenges posed by climate change, the Department of Environment (DoE), WREA, has been appointed as the UNFCCC national focal point for the country’s climate change actions and initiatives (Roth, 2009). In 2008, the Prime Minister established the National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC) (Lao PDR, 2009b). The NSCCC has drafted the National Strategy and its Action Plan on Climate Change (NSAPCC). In 2009, the WREA published the National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change (NAPA). National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC). In 2008, the NSCCC and the Climate Change Office were established with the goal to coordinate the development of national strategy to manage climate change and its impact, and to establish an action 25
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12/23/2009 from http://www.phnompen
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