Integrating Climate, Disaster, and Loss and Damage Policy for Slow-Onset Climate Risks

Challenge

Slow-onset climate risks such as sea-level rise, drought, and salinization are poorly integrated into existing national adaptation and disaster risk frameworks.

Solution

Researchers developed tools and policy guidance to help five countries align strategies for climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and loss and damage.

Overview

Slow-onset climate processes such as sea-level rise, increasing temperatures, drought, ocean acidification, and salinization can cause long-term harm to communities and ecosystems. However, they receive far less attention than rapid-onset disasters in policy and planning.

This Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)-funded project led by Joy Jacqueline Pereira (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia), who worked with government agencies and research institutes in Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Myanmar, sought to address this gap.

Project Approach

The project aimed to better integrate climate change adaptation (CCA), disaster risk reduction (DRR), and loss and damage (L+D) into national planning, with a focus on emerging slow-onset hazards. It was carried out in three phases covering biophysical, socio-economic, and policy aspects:

• Phase 1 (Point of Departure): Identified knowledge and policy gaps on slow-onset processes and cascading risks in Southeast Asia, including concepts, terminology, and baseline data.
• Phase 2 (Specialised Investigation): Conducted local-level assessments in five countries using an area-based approach to identify emerging issues and priorities.
• Phase 3 (Prospective Appraisal): Continued local-level assessments and tested L+D methodologies developed or adapted during the project.

The researchers developed participatory tools and a flexible framework for assessing vulnerabilities, impacts, and institutional gaps. The overall goal was to support evidence-based, cross-sector policymaking that addresses the complex, cumulative nature of slow-onset climate impacts.

Stakeholder engagement and policy integration

Partners conducted country assessments and consultations across the five countries to identify policy gaps and coordination challenges. These activities included national workshops, institutional mapping, and in-depth interviews with government officials, scientists, and civil society groups.

Each country identified legal, institutional, and technical barriers to integrating climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and loss and damage planning for slow-onset processes. Tools were piloted in national and subnational settings, with findings used to develop regional policy guidance.

Methodology

The project team developed a methodological framework that linked climate science, policy analysis, and institutional assessment. It drew on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) typology of slow-onset events and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Key methods included:

• Country scoping studies to review national and local policy documents, legal frameworks, and strategic plans related to CCA, DRR, and L+D. These studies identified policy overlaps, gaps, and integration opportunities.
• Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with stakeholders.
• Stakeholder workshops in each participating country.
• Thematic and institutional mapping of climate risks and governance systems.

A diagnostic tool was co-designed with local partners to assess each country’s capacity to address slow-onset events and to identify entry points for integrated policy development.

Key results and findings

• Most countries lacked a shared definition or formal national recognition of slow-onset events.
• Climate and disaster risk policies often functioned in isolation, limiting interagency coordination.
• Governance systems were not equipped to address gradual, cumulative risks such as sea-level rise, drought, ocean acidification, salinization, and long-term temperature increases. These processes unfold over decades, often without a single triggering event, making them harder to address within current planning frameworks.
• While some countries had sectoral strategies to manage specific slow-onset issues (e.g., in agriculture or water), few had overarching national frameworks.
• Regional cooperation, shared terminology, and long-term institutional planning emerged as urgent needs.

Outputs

• National case studies and scoping reports from all five target countries.
• Stakeholder workshop reports and a validated diagnostic tool.
• Regional policy brief on integrating CCA, DRR, and L+D for slow-onset events.
• Methodological guidance for national adaptation planners.
• Academic presentations and regional policy dialogues.

Future outlook

The project outputs lay a foundation for mainstreaming slow-onset climate risks into national adaptation plans and disaster risk strategies. Countries can apply the diagnostic tool to assess institutional readiness and improve coordination. Sustained regional collaboration, capacity-building, and policy integration will be essential to managing slow-onset risks over the long term.

Project detail

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN). Acknowledgement is extended to all participating institutions and national stakeholders that contributed expertise and time to the project’s tools, workshops, and policy dialogues. Thanks are also due to the following organizations for their collaboration and support: Asian Network on Climate Science and Technology (ANCST), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asian University Network on Environment and Disaster Management (AUEDM), Institute of Global Environmental Studies (IGES), SEEDS Asia, UNISDR Asia Science, Technology and Academia Advisory Group (AASTAG), International Science Council Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ISC-ROAP), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN).

Related information

• Pereira, J.J., Pulhin, J, Nguyen V.T., Nyda, C., Lwin, T. & Prabhakar, S.V.R.K. (2015). Integrating Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Loss and Damage to Address Emerging Challenges due to Slow Onset Processes. APN Science Bulletin, Issue 5, pp. 92. in Boonjawat, J., Stevenson, L. A., & Tupas, L. (Eds.). (2015). APN Science Bulletin (5). Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research. ISSN 2185-761X
• Pereira, J. J., Pulhin, J., Nyda, C., Tran, D. T., & Satari, S. K. (2019). Appraising slow onset hazards for loss and damage: Case studies in Southeast Asia. APN Science Bulletin, 9(1). doi:10.30852/sb.2019.720
• Pereira, J. J. et al. (2019). Final Report: Integrating CCA, DRR and L+D to Address Emerging Challenges due to Slow Onset Processes. https://www.apn-gcr.org/project/integrating-cca-drr-and-ld-to-address-emerging-challenges-due-to-slow-onset-processes/
• Rahman, T., Reza, M.I.H., Choy, E.A. & Pereira J.J. (2016). Measuring loss and damage: approaches and challenges. Bulletin SEADPRI, 13, 4.
• Yahaya, N. S., Pereira, J. J., & Taha, M. R. (2021). Using best available information to conduct impact assessment of future climatic hazards on a landfill. Climatic Change, 165(3), 1-19.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03104-1
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