Day 5, 12 March 2021The 5th Day of APAN Forum Focussing in Finance and Insurance
09.30-09.45 Welcome and Highlights of Day 4
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| Mozaharul Alam |
Mozaharul Alam, Regional Coordinator, Climate Change Sub-programme at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), welcomed the panelists and participants to the last day or 5th day of the Forum. Luisa Escaler acted as a technical facilitator. Desiree Llanos Dee, Founder at Tofu Creatives, and Nityalila Saulo, Founder at Tofu Creatives, presented the highlights of the fourth day of the Forum through the Virtual Journey that can be seen on the link http://bit.ly/apan2020visualjourney.
09.45-10.45 Plenary on Finance and Investment
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Rico Hizon
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| Saleem Huq |
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Oyun Sanjasureen
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| Preety Bhandary |
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| Tiza Mafira |
Rico Hizon, Senior Anchor and Director for Content Development at CNN Philippines, acted as a moderator and led the discussion of this plenary session focussing in Finance and Investment.
The issue of finance was presented by Saleem Huq, Director at ICCCD at Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) as follows
- Adaptation rise for the first time in early 2000, the issue of locally has drawn many agencies to have been improving the climate finance. We need to be able fast, reach, work with vulnerable community.
- The realization of Covid-19 pandemic that has revealed and the lack of resilience of the community.
Bangladesh has taken climate change seriously and the government has put hundred million money and project on how to do up-skill for hundred of million people. Bangladesh has coordination with 27 the ministries to put the budget for climate change. The best investment for 5-10 years is to allocate at least 1% budget country for promoting adaptation of climate change. We build the capacity of adaptation and resilience of climate change, so in the next 5 -10 years we will get the money back that make the country more resilience and adaptation.
Furthermore Saleem Huq recommended that we need to work together, understand the problem, build capacity, and scale it up by replicating, multiplying the project, and allocating national budget.
Meanwhile, Oyun Sanjaasuren (Director of External Affairs at Green Climate Fund (GCF)), Preety Bhandary (Chief of Climate Change SDCD (ADB)), Tiza Mafira (Associate Director at Climate Policy Initiative Indonesia (CPI)), and Abid Qaiyum Suleri (Executive Director at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)) recommended that we need to encourage private sector to get involved. The role of government is to be responsible for the funding. UN has allocated the funding but it must be significant. Multiple countries get involved is better than one country. And we scale up by smart and clustering small scale project into big project.
11.15-12.45 Parallel Session
Partners not Beneficiaries - Empowering local communities as climate finance actors
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| Grace Balawag |
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| Judge Donald Kerslake |
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| Farayi Onias |
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| Joy Bailey |
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| Terence Hay-Eddie |
This parallel session discussed about how to empower local communities as climate finance actors. The panelists are among others:
- Grace Balawag, Deputy Program Coordinator at Tebtebba
- Donald Kerslake, Community Representative at Saoluafata Village Mangrove and Marine Protected A
- Farayi Onias Madziwa, Team Leader at Adaptation Fund
- Joy Bailey, Urban Climate change Resilience Specialist at Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- Terence Hay-Eddie, Programme Advisor at UNDP-implemented GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP)
The first question to be discussed was "What has been your experience at the local level yourself or working with communities in accessing international climate finance?"
The panelists recommended that they have colleagues. They translate the language into local community's language in order to make the local community understand the program and make them get involved in the project. The second question was "Are climate funds accepting higher risks in their financing and programming?"
The panelists discussed that the hinderance to local community is the risk of failure. So the government has to nominate and to have strategy to minimize the hinderance with new mechanism and new small innovation grant. There must be a variety of project, partnership with other countries, scientific evidence, the data is not available, a concept from Harvard university for nature based solution, empower the community.
The other hindrance is the difficulty in terms of data-based and understanding the requirement; the equipment of information is lack for indigenous community; and a partnership is really needed especially for indigenous community in terms of guidance, evaluating and monitoring.
The next questions to be discussed are "How do we move forward? Will direct access to international climate finance better support local resilience and needs? How can in financing for direct access modalities be reconciled with fiduciary requirements?"
Mr. Farayi and Ms. Tamara responded to the questions by answering that the grants are available for the small group because they share the small grant. It needs accreditation through local and national level. Adaptation fund get involved local community through the design of program.
Judge Donald Kersklake answered the question of "What kinds of technical assistance do communities need when receiving funding for adaptation?" He said that we need data, how to get and to use data, how to implement and to evaluate the program.
And Ms. Joy Bailey responded to the question "What are best practices and lessons learnt in financing urban climate resilience?" She said that we must invest in people not only infrastructure, more investment to put forward, operation and maintenance, development partner, small skill project should go hand in hand with big project, support local community with good proposal, support the organisation from the very beginning, working along with Monash University, engagement with the youth and women, empower the urban poor.
The question of "What kind of capacity building is still needed for the local level to meet monitoring and reporting transparency requirements?" was answered by Grace Balawag. She said that a big partnership starts with plan, implement, evaluation, monitoring. She facilitated support big capacity building in terms of implementing, reporting, monitoring, transparency requirement, simplifying, better commitment for investment in terms of supporting local community, trust and confident for the local community to accessing, and building the partnership with local community organisation.
She, furthermore, built the knowledge and supported this with scientific assessment. SHe made emphasis the local knowledge, partnership with local government, academia, and CSR.
14.00 -16.00 Scaling-up Action
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| Antoinette Taus |
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Youssef Nassef
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| Elizabeth Maruma Mrema |
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Bambang Susantono
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Ovais Sarmad
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| Tina Birmpili |
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Ken O'Flaherty
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Antoinette Taus, Goodwill Ambassador at UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) Phillippines, led the discussion of this session.
Youssef Nassef, Director of Adaptation Division at UNFCC, delivered the Forum's Summary and High-Level Plenary: Scaling Up Action as it can be seen from the slides.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary at Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) UN highlighted for 5 days convention:
- Asian Pacific Region, the region and million vulnerable people are impacted by Climate Change and Covid-19 pandemic.
- A strong governance will play important role. Coordination, integration planning, national adaptation plan, and hope will give solution. Solution starts with understanding a simple truth, a new economy and new paradigm are embedded to the nature.
In addition, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema recommended that interconnectedness must be addressed by all of them together, all actors play the active important role to ensure fully participation in our processes. The voices of youth become louder and stronger. The youth as important agent not only the recipient. The youth must be active engagement under different issue because they are the next leader.
Meanwhile, Bambang Susantono, Vice President for Knowledge Management at Asian Development Bank (ADB), highlighted three key messages, they are:
- Economic recovery from pandemic as the priority
- Long term planning. Green infrastructure
- Adapt holistic approach to strengthening financial resilience
Furthermore, Bambang Susantono, explained that Asian Development Bank is tackling climate change and enhancing sustainable society. He highlighted three key messages:
- Adaptation all capacity to all levels. ADB is working with regional cooperation, developing our members in national level, and has lot skill programmes in local level
- To increase our support for adaptation to build resilience
- To improve adaptation goal which aligns with Paris Agreement.
Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary at UNFCC, recommended to implement Paris Agreement to bring the world together. Implementation is the focus of Paris Agreement now. National Adaptation Plan and Technical guide try to reduce the impact of climate change.
Other highlight was recommended by Tina Birmpili, Deputy Executive Secretary at UNCDD. She said that no matter what we do, how we plan, we are all passionate. We should start to recover land, to act now, to find action at this pointing time, to take multiple solution in different sectors.
Ken O'Flaherty, COP26 Regional Ambassador at Asia-Pacific and South Asia, highlighted the key messages of the Forum include:
- Recognizing the impact
- Adaptation action, resilience campaign, build resistance
Furthermore, he said that climate change is affecting across Asia Pacific Region: flooding, typhoon, infrastructure, sea level rises, agriculture, and vulnerability community. So adaptation and resilience is really urgent. We want to work together, improve, mobilize adaptation action, accessibility, adaptation action coalition, cooperation of all countries (developed and developing countries), scale up the best practices.
Closing Session
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Stewart Maginnis
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| Niall O'Connor |
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| Akiko Yamamoto |
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| Drupad Choudhury |
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| Yasuo Takahashi |
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| Isabelle Louis |
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| Kazuaki Takahashi |
Stewart Maginnis, Global Director at International Union for Conservation of Nature, committed to:
- Take an action to scale up the country
- Establish standard for nature-based solution
- Support country to financing
- Mobilize public sector and funding
- Build cooperation and collaboration between Asia and Pacific countries
Other commitment was delivered by Drupad Choudhury, Chief Scaling Operations at ICIMOD. He committed to:
- Bring knowledge, to disseminate the knowledge
- Continue to pilot innovative approaches especially to women and vulnerable and indigenous community
- Develop strong partnership
The other panelists such as Niall O'Connor (Centre Director at Stockholm Environment Institute), Akiko Yamamoto (Regional Team Leader at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)), Yasuo Takahashi (Executive Director at Institute for Global Environment Strategies), and Isabelle Louis, (Deputy regional Director at UN Environment Programme (UNEP)) committed to become partner to ensure on going APAN community practices. They concluded that the 7th APAN Forum has the commitment which include:
1. The voice of youth, women, and indigenous people must represented in the decision making
2. Action must be taken
3. Strong need to adaptation finance
4. Adaptation effort is the centre pillar
5. Major shift need to build resilience especially on vulnerable people
6. To up scaling, we need appropriate knowledge on partnership
As the host of the 7th APAN Forum, Kazuaki Takahashi, Director of Climate Change Adaptation Office at Global Environment Bureau (MoEJ) said thank you to all partners. AP-PLAT promotes international cooperation that will take action.
We introduce the adaptive recovery. Japan would keep the outcome of the APAN Forum.
Closing Ceremony
Mozaharul Alam closed the 7th APAN Forum.
We have more than 900 unique speakers and participants.
On behalf of APAN Secretariat and partners...thanks to all.
The APAN Forum is successful.
Thank you very much for all the participants and organizers
who made the 7th APAN Forum successful!
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