Read more: http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/588739.html

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed with the Construction Ministry's proposals to expand the flood shelter pilot model across the northern central and central coastal regions.

Dung expressed his approval at a conference in the south-central province of Phu Yen yesterday, April 8, to review the implementation of a programme to help poor families in the two regions tackle floods.

The programme, which was implemented under the Prime Minister's Decision No 716/QD-TTg issued on June 14, 2012, targets 700 poor households in 14 flood-prone communes in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Phu Yen provinces.

Read more: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/government/70999/pm-agrees-to-expand-su...

Last month, China was granted US$95 million to reduce its production of hydro-chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), substances that are used primarily for cooling, refrigeration, and the manufacture of foam products. The funding comes from the Multilateral Fund (MLF) of the Montreal Protocol, because HCFCs deplete the ozone layer and are controlled under the Protocol. With access to these funds, between now and 2015 China will reduce its production of HCFCs by 10%, or 47,000 metric tons from 2010 levels, allowing it to meet the first reduction targets set by the Protocol.

Read more: http://blogs.worldbank.org/climatechange/china-phase-out-ozone-damaging-...

We've been thinking a lot lately about investing in "natural capital" in Asia and the Pacific - one of four key thrusts of ADB’s newly approved Environment Operational Directions for 2013-2020.

Ecosystems and biodiversity are on the decline in Asia and the Pacific. We put out a report last year together with WWF which depicts a stark picture. In the last 40 years, there has been a 67% decline in the health of ecosystems in the region. This is twice the global average!

Read more: http://blogs.adb.org/blog/why-invest-natural-capital

Adaptation is a key feature of sustainable social-ecological systems, as well as a recent and increasing focus of research and policy regarding responses to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. This article examines the meaning of adaptation and its relationship to the concepts of resilience, vulnerability and sustainability. It illustrates that, in many cases, societies ‘manipulate’ their social-ecological contexts rather than adapt to them.

Read more: https://apmen.iom.int/en/research-database/item/113-adaptation-or-manipu...

While the Song Bung 4 Hydropower project disrupted the lifestyle of the Co Tu ethnic group in central Viet Nam, it also became an opportunity for its members, especially women and children, to gain better education, health care, and improve their income opportunities. Their active participation in the resettlement process was key to the successful completion of a project that helped them design and build their future.

Read more: http://www.adb.org/features/viet-nams-co-tu-people-find-new-voice-throug...

It’s time to turn off the snooze button on the alarm clock and wake up!

Incremental achievements in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are possible before they “expire” in 2015 if linkages among strategies to achieve various goals are made. MDG 5 demands an improvement in maternal health. MDG 4 calls for an improvement in child health. MDG 7c demands for improved water and sanitation. The links between WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and maternal and child health are evident. Accelerated efforts to improve WASH will not only move us toward achieving MDG 7c, but they will also contribute to the achievement of health MDGs 4 and 5.

According to the 2012 Joint Monitoring Programme Report, more than 780 million people, or 11% of the global population, remain without access to an improved source of drinking water. About 2.5 billion people in 2010 lacked improved sanitation. An estimated 1.1 billion people, or 15% of the global population, still practice open defecation. The adoption of better sanitation and hygienic practices require easy access to water sources. In fact, five out of six users of improved sanitation also use improved water sources.

Read more: http://blogs.adb.org/blog/wake-advocate-taps-and-toilets-maternal-and-ch...

On Tuesday, 26 February, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) board formally approved its US$4.5 million co-funding for the new Sustainable Forest and Biodiversity Management program in the Heart of Borneo.

This funding is part of a program that was approved by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council in November 2012. In addition to the ADB’s US$4.5m, the GEF will provide US$2.5m, the Government of Indonesia US$0.5m and WWF US$2m. The GEF program is an example of the power of collaboration with public sector partners, which has resulted in several new funding mechanisms directed at the Heart of Borneo program.

Read more: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/borneo_forests/?207692/Up-...

Dawn is a mere glimmer on the horizon and the city is still plunged in darkness. Its cobbled streets are menacingly dark.

But specks of light pierce the breaking day in villages in Alanganallur block, Madurai East, Madurai West and Melur blocks. The streets are unpaved but streetlights powered by solar energy burn bright, lighting up the dips and curves on the village roads.

Load shedding has now become a way of life in Madurai, but good news is emerging from hamlets – big and small - in rural Madurai.

When The Hindu correspondent visited villages in the interior of Madurai East and Alanganallur, the villagers proudly displayed the solar panels they had installed in their homes.

Read more: http://www.propoor.org/news/?n=68146

Water Users Associations were first established in 1999, when Chhattisgarh was part of Madhya Pradesh State. They were revived under the Chhattisgarh Irrigation Development Program that kicked off in 2006. The program, financed in part by a $46.1 million loan from ADB, aims to improve small irrigation networks and how they are managed at state and community levels.

The associations had originally failed to get off the ground—or had become inactive—because the members were unskilled in water-system management or due to lack of finances because association water fees went to the state government, rather than feeding back into associations themselves.

Since then, this financial imbalance has been corrected, and the associations have been made more representatives of their communities. They now include more women, like Dhruw, and more members of otherwise largely ignored castes and tribes.

Read more: http://www.adb.org/features/india-communities-manage-water-resources-emp...