Background

Asian societies are particularly vulnerable to the projected impacts of climate change in the water sector. Likely, water-related impacts include increased incidence and severity of floods and droughts, loss of high-altitude glacial and snowpack storage, increased variability in river discharge, and degradation of coastal and island aquifers. These, in turn, will impact many sectors of society dependent on water resources, including irrigated agriculture, urban and rural water supply and sanitation, energy, and public health.

Reducing vulnerability to the likely impacts of climate change is one of the most pressing development challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region. Successful adaptation strategies require, as an essential foundation, both scientifically sound and credible projections of key climatic variables, and the means to make these projections available and relevant to the needs of water resources planners, managers and policymakers.

This workshop, held in co-ordination with the First Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum's (APWF) Steering Group on Water and Climate Change on 26-27 March, seeks to bring together leading international experts in the fields of climate modeling, impact assessment, and adaptation planning.

Objectives

The primary workshop objectives are to:

• Develop guidelines for practitioners in using climate change projection methodologies; tools for vulnerability, impact assessments and project screening; and adaptation strategies, with an initial focus on managers of river basins and urban water services
• Strengthen the dialogue between the climate research community and the community of water resources practitioners who are the "end users" of climate change science

Workshop sessions

• Climate Projection - Progress toward IPCC5: Will explore advances in global climate modeling, including high-resolution models currently under development and preliminary application, as steps toward the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (2013).
• Climate Model Projection: Will explore the state-of-the-art in the use of multi-model ensembles, statistical and dynamic downscaling approaches, and the treatment of likelihood and uncertainty.
• Impact Assessment: Will focus on advances in understanding and quantifying the likely changes in climate, hydrology and water resources that are the expressions of climate change at the regional and river basin scale. Case studies from Asia and the Pacific will be highlighted.
• Adaptation Strategies: Will present and explore approaches to adaptation planning in the water sector, which make effective use of advances in projecting regional climate in development planning.
• Dialogue - Scientists and Practitioners: Will provide an opportunity for members of the climate research community to engage with a wide range of water sector practitioners, including river basin planners, water sector policymakers and members of civil society involved in water use and governance. The goal is to align the advances in climate science with efforts "on the ground" to increase water sector resilience in the face of climate change.

Expected outcomes

• Knowledge sharing and interaction among leading experts in climate and climate change science
• Exposure to the latest developments in climate modeling and projection science, with an emphasis on research activities conducted within, and focused on the region
• Clearer understanding of the linkages among climate modeling, regional downscaling, impact assessment, and adaptation planning as an end to end process
• Identification of opportunities and modalities for integrating scientific advances in the planning and management of water resources at national and river basin scales

Organizers

The workshop is being organized jointly by ADB and the APWF Secretariat.

Participants

Scientists and water resources and climate change experts and practitioners will participate.