MANILA — Incorporating water-saving farm practices in a country’s adaptation strategies is one vital intervention that governments can adopt to mitigate the impact of climate change.
This was one measure recommended by Anand Patwardhan, research director of Global Commission on Adaptation, at the 6th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum held at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday.
In a video message aired at the opening of the three-day forum, Patwardhan said water-saving farm practices can help mitigate the impact of drought on food production, a key to ending hunger.
Ending hunger, he said, is among the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
He urged governments to align their adaptation agenda with these goals, which the UN has tagged as the blueprint for achieving better and more sustainable future for all.
Patwardhan warned that reduction in crop yield, decline in marine resources, and loss of plant and animal species are some consequences of climate change’s impacts like sea level and temperature rises.
“Those impacts will hit the poor, who are the most vulnerable, due to loss of livelihood, food insecurity, population displacement, health effects, and more,” he said.
There is a need for further public, private, and philanthropic financing of integrated climate approaches that will benefit multiple sectors economically, socially, and environmentally, he added.
He also cited the need for institutional arrangements, policies, economic incentives, and information that will help enable and scale up local climate action.
“Climate change is not an abstract problem of the future but is very much a real problem of the present,” he said.
The Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum is the primary regional platform for the sharing of information and experiences and working toward solutions aimed at addressing the climate change challenge.
The forum seeks to scale up action on mature adaptation approaches, technologies, and programs. (Catherine Teves/PNA)
