Home to a quarter of the world’s population, South Asia is endowed with vast water resources, with the potential for high economic development. However, spatial and temporal factors in distribution subject the region to water related disasters such as droughts, floods and storm surges, which are increasingly compounded by climate change and global warming.
In 2011 GWP South Asia was accepted as the Thematic Node on Water of the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN). In this position, GWP South Asia will implement the sub regional activities of APAN related to the water sector and climate change, and link with national implementing partners in related activities. The important outcomes of GWP South Asia’s activities on improving the resilience of communities to climate change will also provide a complementary input to APAN.
The Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) is the first regional network under Global Adaptation Network (GAN) formed in response to the growing knowledge and capacity building needs in climate change adaptation. The activities of APAN focus on the most vulnerable ecosystems, and sectors such as water, agriculture and mountains.
APAN was launched in October 2009 in Bangkok by the Prime Minister of Thailand with initial support from the Government of Japan, the Government of Sweden and the Asian Development Bank. APAN is facilitated by UNEP, Asian Institute of Technology - UNEP Regional Resource Center for the Asia Pacific, and the Institute for Global Environment Strategies in partnership with other key actors in the region. APAN aims at building the climate resilience of vulnerable human systems, ecosystems, and economies through the mobilization of knowledge and technologies to support adaptation capacity building, policy-setting, planning and practices.
For more information about APAN, please visit the APAN website which provides information about the network's operation, publications of network activities and forthcoming events.