Asia and the Pacific
Climate change is a key priority in the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
June 2015: At the regional workshop in Bangkok, Asia-Pacific countries discussed action to create greater public awareness about Climate-smart agriculture and looked at ways of putting it into practice. The publication “Climate-Smart Agriculture: a call for action” is a summary of the workshop and includes successful case studies of agricultural practices used to address food security in adverse circumstances.
The workshop was organized in response to a request from member countries during the 32nd Asia-Pacific Regional Conference (APRC) and the High-Level Forum on Climate Change and Food Security in Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Islands Developing States, to:
- Provide increased support for climate change adaptation and mitigation activities including CSA to create more resilient agriculture and fisheries sectors.
- Develop strategies to support food security at various levels which could be done through the demonstration of CSA practices and community-based agriculture systems.
In the region efforts have been made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions originating from deforestation, forest degradation and land-use change, excessive fertilizer and pesticide use, inefficient livestock and paddy rice production systems.
Adaptation to the changing climate is however a challenge. This is due to the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events such as droughts and floods, changing and erratic rainfall patterns, shifts in agro-ecological zones, and rising sea levels especially for low-lying countries in Asia such as Bangladesh and Viet Nam and the low-lying Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific.
Bangladesh
Many fisheries and aquaculture-dependent communities in the coastal areas of Bangladesh are increasingly affected by cyclones, flooding, sea level rise, prolonged droughts and other effects induced or exacerbated by climate change.
The project “Community-based Climate Resilient Fisheries and Aquaculture Development in Bangladesh” is currently in preparation phase for funding by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It will support those communities to develop and adopt site-specific, climate-smart and climate-resilient practices e.g. through the selection of more resilient species for aquaculture, climate-resilient hatcheries, and early warning systems for extreme climate events.