Regional organisations supporting health sector responses to climate change in Southeast Asia
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Regional organisations supporting health sector responses to climate change in Southeast Asia Daniel Gilfillan
Abstract Background: The role played by regional organisations in climate change adaptation and health is growing in Southeast Asia, with the Asian Development Bank and the Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Health and Environment both supporting health and adaptation initiatives. There is, however, a lack of empirical research on the value that regional organisations add to national health-related adaptation. This qualitative research compares regional project and governance-based models of adaptation and health support in Southeast Asia, providing an analysis of strengths and weaknesses of each, as well as possibilities for improvement. Methods: An existing adaptation assessment framework was modified for this research, and used as a guide to gather and analyse data from academic and grey literature, policy documents and interviews in order to qualitatively assess two organisations and their different models of adaptation and health support. Results: This research found differing strengths in the approaches to climate change and health used by the Asian Development Bank and by the Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Health and Environment. The regional forum has vision, high levels of perceived legitimacy, and access to ‘in-house’ expertise in public health and climate change. Conversely, the Asian Development Bank has strengths in project management and access to significant financial resources to support work in climate change and health. Conclusion: When regional organisations, such as the Asian Development Bank and the Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Health and Environment, have membership and mandate overlaps, their work will likely benefit from well designed, institutionalised and incentivised coordination mechanisms. Coordination can reduce redundancies as well as the administrative workload on partner government agencies. In the case-study examined, the Asian Development Bank’s project management expertise complements the vision and high levels of perceived legitimacy of the Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Health and Environment, thus a coordinated approach could deliver improved adaptation and health outcomes. Keywords: Southeast Asia, Health, Adaptation, Governance, Climate change, Coordination
Introduction Southeast Asia comprises 11 countries, ranging from archipelagos and an island-state, to landlocked Laos. Despite their varied geographies, developing countries in Southeast Asia have broadly similar climate change-related vulnerabilities due to a high and growing population and a reliance on agriculture for livelihoods [1]. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [2] defines vulnerability as a Correspondence: [email protected] Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, 48 Linnaeus Way, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia
function of several elements, including physical impact exposure (e.g. changing rainfall patterns) and adapt
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