Addressing Livelihoods In Adaptation Activities: Lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia

This policy brief, published by the Stockholm Environment Institute in 2013, synthesizes lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia (AKP) regarding the protection of livelihoods against climate change. Drawing on research from 13 Asian countries, it highlights the vulnerability of rural and coastal populations dependent on climate-sensitive sectors and evaluates the effectiveness of various adaptation strategies, including community forestry and the integration of local knowledge.

• Climate change significantly threatens livelihoods in the Asia and Pacific region, particularly in rural areas where populations rely on climate-sensitive sectors including agriculture, fishing, forestry, and tourism.
• Current climate impacts manifest as erratic rainfall, water scarcity, seasonal shifts, and extreme weather. In China, droughts cause an estimated 30 million tonnes of food loss annually and average losses of 1% of GDP since the 1990s, while floods cause annual losses of approximately 1.5% of GDP. Future projections suggest wheat, rice, and corn production in China could decrease by up to 37% by the second half of the century.
• Water scarcity is a critical issue in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, often forcing residents to purchase water. In Nepal, this scarcity has led to conflicts between upland and downhill communities. Additionally, the erosion of traditional democratic water governance, such as the subak system in Bali, Indonesia, has increased the risk of water scarcity and crop failure.
• Poor and marginalized populations, including women, are disproportionately vulnerable due to a lack of resources, connections, and knowledge. Women specifically face barriers in accessing land, credit, agricultural inputs, and technologies compared to men.
• Adaptation efforts vary by country: Malaysia focuses on drought-tolerant varieties of rubber, oil palm, cocoa, and rice; Laos prioritizes crop diversification and varieties resistant to floods and droughts. Community forestry is identified as a promising entry point for adaptation in Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, and Thailand.
• While external technical and financial assistance can create strong adaptive measures—such as mangrove buffers in Vietnam or terracing in Thailand—they can also lead to maladaptation. For instance, encouraging maize as a cash crop in Ban Huay Win, Thailand, increased dependency on middlemen and displaced subsistence crops.
• There are inherent trade-offs between climate risk reduction and livelihood enhancement. Commercial-scale aquaculture may increase short-term income but destroys mangroves that serve as storm barriers. Similarly, shifting to cash crops like sugar cane, cassava, and maize in Thailand can increase income but raises the risk of large-scale crop failure through monocultures.
• Effective adaptation requires integrating local and traditional knowledge. Examples include autonomous adaptations in Nepal, where communities are switching from rice to maize and from cows/buffalo to goats, and the potential for restoring the subak tradition in Bali to manage water scarcity.

APA

Davis, M., & Walker, S. T. (2013). Addressing Livelihoods In Adaptation Activities: 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-livelihoods-adaptation.pdf

Chicago

Davis, Marion, and Skye Turner Walker. Addressing Livelihoods In Adaptation Activities: 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-livelihoods-adaptation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Davis |first1=Marion |last2=Walker |first2=Skye Turner |title=Addressing Livelihoods In Adaptation Activities: Lessons from the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-akp-pb-2013-livelihoods-adaptation.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{davis2013addressing, author = {Davis, Marion and Walker, Skye Turner}, title = {{Addressing Livelihoods In Adaptation Activities: 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-livelihoods-adaptation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }