Some examples of innovative adaptation actions are China's 'Sponge Cities' which are trying to protect ecosystems while reducing risk for people, now and in the future. Another example is India's Heat Action Plans that are using 'cool roofs' technologies and awareness-building campaigns to reduce the impacts of extreme heat. Across South and Southeast Asia, climate-smart agriculture programmes are reducing GHG emissions associated with farming while helping farmers adapt to changing risks. Each country is experimenting with infrastructural, nature-based, technological, institutional and behavioural strategies to adapt to current and future climate change with local contexts shaping both the possibility of undertaking such actions as well as the effectiveness of these actions to reduce risk. What works for ageing cities in Japan exposed to heatwaves and floods may not work for pastoral communities in the highlands of Central Asia, but there is progress on understanding what actions work and for whom. The challenge is to scale current adaptation action, especially in the most exposed areas and for the most vulnerable populations, as well as move beyond adapting to single risks alone . In this context, funding and implementing adaptation is essential, and while Asian countries are experimenting with a range of autonomous and planned adaptation actions to deal with these multiple and often concurrent challenges, making current development pathways climate resilient is necessary and, some might argue, unavoidable.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report