Building Knowledge to Support Adaptation: Lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia

This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute outlines lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia (AKP) regarding the gaps between climate research and practical adaptation. It highlights systemic failures in knowledge dissemination, the scarcity of sub-national and sector-specific data, and the critical need to integrate local traditional knowledge and multi-language materials to support decision-makers and practitioners across Asia.

• National-level knowledge regarding climate change impacts, sectoral implications, and adaptation measures is inconsistent across Asia. While countries like Bangladesh and the Philippines have developed significant knowledge bases, others possess very little.
• Knowledge at sub-national and local levels is severely limited due to systemic failures in training and dissemination, as well as a physical lack of data, including hydrological models, meteorological records, and downscaled climate models.
• Language and technical framing act as significant barriers to adaptation. Most research is published in English, which is often inaccessible to national agencies and practitioners, and the technical nature of the research frequently fails to answer the practical questions needed by policy-makers.
• Local and traditional knowledge are essential for effective adaptation but are currently underrepresented in national knowledge bases. Participatory processes that combine knowledge generation with capacity-building are recommended to bridge this gap.
• Climate uncertainty often hinders government action because officials prefer firm knowledge over the wide ranges provided by projections. Tools such as scenario-based analysis and reframing goals toward avoiding choices that exacerbate vulnerability can help decision-makers move forward.
• There is a significant lack of formal training and education in climate adaptation. There is an unmet need for hands-on learning and the integration of adaptation knowledge into professional curricula for sectors such as public health, forestry, and agriculture.
• In Laos, adaptation knowledge has primarily been built at the local level through small projects, particularly in agriculture. However, critical gaps remain in water resources, disaster risk reduction, transport (specifically geospatial knowledge of landslides), and public health data.

APA

Davis, M., & Walker, S. T. (2013). Building Knowledge to Support Adaptation: Lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-AKP-PB-2013-Knowledge-adaptation.pdf

Chicago

Davis, Marion, and Skye Turner Walker. Building Knowledge to Support Adaptation: Lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2013. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-AKP-PB-2013-Knowledge-adaptation.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{davis2013building, author = {Davis, Marion and Walker, Skye Turner}, title = {{Building Knowledge to Support Adaptation: Lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-AKP-PB-2013-Knowledge-adaptation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }