The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Vietnam on Thursday signed two loan agreements totaling 111.88 million U.S. dollars to help Vietnam enhance low carbon agriculture development, and strengthen the government's capacity to better startup, prepare and implement ADB-financed projects.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/08/c_132219309.htm

Contrary to popular belief, most rural communities facing recurrent climate shocks learn to adapt, using their own resources and knowledge. Yet many international aid programmes have outside “experts” craft interventions without the involvement of those they seek to help.

And many development projects do not actually promote adaptability, said Simon Levine of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), in a 2012 Oxfam blog post. “The vast majority of these interventions, and the people designing and running them, never talked about 'change' or 'the future' at all… If you want to help people be able to deal with change, then you have to start by thinking about them as people who have their own minds and preferences and plans, and the right to choose, and the right to be able to make an informed choice. They don't need skills that are right for today half as much as they need to know where they can find the skills they may need tomorrow.”

Read more: http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97595/Giving-communities-a-voice-in-resil...

I recently attended the “Coastal Cities At Risk 2013” conference organized by the Manila Observatory and the Coastal Cities at Risk Initiative supported by the Canadian Government. As many remarked, the venue was quite apt because Manila has the distinction of being one of seven cities globally judged to be at extreme risk from the combined impacts of climate change and climate-related disasters – and only Dhaka in Bangladesh is estimated to be at higher overall risk.

Read more: http://blogs.adb.org/blog/why-asia-s-growing-coastal-cities-must-invest-...

Rapid urbanization and climate change are reshaping and exacerbating disaster risk. Together, they have added urgency to the task of building resilience in communities and countries around the world. High-profile representatives of developing and donor countries join senior officials from development and humanitarian organizations discuss how to prepare for a changing world.

Watch the webcast: http://gfdrr.org/gfdrr/node/1182

This workbook is intended to help policy makers in developing countries plan for a safer future in urban areas in the face of natural disasters and the consequences of climate change. It is based on the experiences of three cities in Vietnam, Can Tho, Dong Hoi, and Hanoi, that worked with international and local experts under World Bank supervision to develop local resilience action plans (LRAPs) in 2009-10.

Read more: http://go.worldbank.org/Q4RPZGYVQ0

This report makes recommendations around the future of climate change investments to ensure that they benefit the poorest and most vulnerable people living in rural areas.

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http://www.oxfam.org.uk

This report makes recommendations around the future of climate change investments to ensure that they benefit the poorest and most vulnerable people living in rural areas.

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http://www.oxfam.org.uk

This Climate Policy Brief highlights critical issues raised in the Cities and Resilience Dialogue held in Bangkok, Thailand September 28-29, 2009. The Dialogue reviewed the progress of cities in addressing the consequences of climate change with city representatives from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam; their respective national climate change negotiators; and key supporting institutions active in the region.

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http://www.proventionconsortium.org

Our role: help developing countries access and lend development/private sector finance and new climate finance for sustainable development with adaptation and mitigation benefits

Download the presentation (6.57 MB, PPT)
http://www.unep.org

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) currently has an enormous opportunity to foster the integration of the cross-cutting issues surrounding sustainable land management (SLM) into the broad context of international policy processes and into sustainable development at the country level.

Climate resilience and climate change risk management; adaptation; and mitigation are the most important drivers for sustainable use of natural resources such as water, soil and vegetation worldwide.

On the occasion of World Day to Combat Desertification, the GM would like to draw attention to the potential of the UNCCD as the main policy forum that brings together the themes of climate resilience food security and rural development through sustainable land management (SLM).

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http://www.global-mechanism.org