The Asia and the Pacific is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In 2020, the region faced a record number of climate-related disasters coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting tens of millions of vulnerable people. The need to address climate change threats and build resilience has never been more urgent than now.
This background document focuses on how Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can build resilience and help protect communities from climate change while simultaneously delivering a variety of benefits crucial for human wellbeing, such as supporting food security, improving water availability, and strengthening livelihoods, all of which can contribute to climate resilience. In this outlook, NbS for resilience is examined through the five key enablers that will guide the discussions at 7th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Network (APAN) Forum: policy and climate governance; planning and processes; science and assessment; technologies and practices; and finance and investment, while looking at the challenges, promising innovations and best practices in the Asia-Pacific region.
Moving forward, several key actions are needed. For instance, NbS should be integrated into the national frameworks such as National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of all countries in the region with specific and quantifiable targets. Further, there is a need to support capacity building on NbS, and a need for targeted research and collection of scientific data to provide evidence to quantify NbS benefits and support the integration of NbS within climate change policy frameworks. Finally, innovative financing mechanisms and investments are needed to strengthen and diversify the finance base for NbS as well as better understanding of the benefits NbS can deliver
