People and Planet : Addressing the interlinked challenges of climate change, poverty and hunger in Asia and the ... - ReliefWeb

People and Planet : Addressing the interlinked challenges of climate change, poverty and hunger in Asia and the Pacific - World | ReliefWeb

Key messages

The Asia-Pacific region has made steady progress in recent decades in reducing poverty and hunger. The impact of this development is evident in increasing food security, reduced prevalence of malnutrition and related improvements in health and well-being. Further gains are still needed, but they are hampered by multiple crises, including the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing effects of climate change.

The impacts of climate change, including slow and sudden onset weather events, are reducing the ability of countries to continue to advance SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). This report examines this issue at the regional and sub-regional level, identifying specific impacts of climate change on agricultural and labour productivity as well as food supply chains and food security. The report highlights how responses at the intersection of climate change, poverty and hunger can provide transformative change to drive SDG 1, 2 and 13. Key enablers of change are also examined. The key findings from this report are:

The impacts of climate change on poverty and hunger in Asia and the Pacific

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Climate hazards are increasing and projected to become more severe and frequent with impacts leading to reduced agricultural and labour productivity, loss of livelihoods, and human displacement. These hazards strain socio-economic and environmental systems, and hinder efforts to promote food security and alleviate poverty.
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The burdens of climate impacts are unevenly distributed. Poorer countries and people are more exposed and less able to adapt. The compounding impact of high exposure to climate hazards and vulnerable populations with low coping capacity is leading to increased poverty and food insecurity. This, in turn, reduces the resilience of vulnerable populations, including women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities and indigenous groups.
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Global and regional policies do not adequately support the integration of climate priorities and actions to address poverty and hunger. There are, however, opportunities for greater integration through actions linking social protection, resilient food systems, climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable agricultural practices with countries’ emissions-reductions commitments, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

Climate change solutions to combat poverty and hunger

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Integrated responses to current development challenges need to reflect the interlinkages between climate, poverty and food insecurity. Bringing climate action, poverty, and hunger alleviation actions closer makes implementation more effective as integrated approaches can unlock synergies and help guide complex decision-making when delivering transformative change.
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Sustainable food systems approaches can address the challenge of providing food security and adequate nutrition to the region’s growing population. Designed properly, such systems can support sustainable livelihoods of millions of farmers and reduce the environmental and climate impacts of food production. When combined with actions that make the food systems more resilient to climate risks and hazards, an approach that considers the food system in its totality can effectively address poverty, hunger and climate change.
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Action on climate change will be an important source of new jobs. Ensuring that this work is decent – productive, with fair income, offering security and equal treatment of men and women – can contribute to alleviating poverty and hunger. Making sure that these jobs are inclusive, through skills development and programs to build work experience, can help raise incomes of poor people.
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Developing social protection systems that provide a safety net for vulnerable people and can build their capacity to prepare, adapt and respond to climate impacts will help tackle the underlying causes of poverty and food insecurity, and reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts. Both broad-based and shock-responsive social protection are important. Although underdeveloped in the Asia-Pacific region, the former, with its underlying service delivery infrastructure, is critical for delivering assistance rapidly and effectively in crisis situations.

Enabling actions for transformative change

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Transformative climate change solutions require the right enabling environment. This report highlights the role of six enablers: education, awareness raising and skill development; policy coherence; institutional capacity building; innovation and entrepreneurship; finance, funding and investment; regional cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships.
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Multiple actors shape the enablers. They include governments; civil society organisations; private sector; research and training organisations; financial institutions such as domestic, international and multilateral development banks; and international organisations. All these actors need to integrate climate issues into their operations and thus enhance their institutional capacity.
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Each of these actors work with communities at different scales. This requires coherence and coordination. The speed and scale of needed climate action means that no country can afford to go it alone — there is therefore a vital role for stepping up regional cooperation. Countries need to learn and replicate best practices from across the region and beyond.
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Integrating climate policies, including adaptation, disaster risk reduction and decarbonisation strategies, with an inclusive social development agenda can help governments secure investments and stage interventions that tackle climate change in a way that also reduces poverty, hunger and inequality.

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