Donor / Partner: Mekong River Commission – Environment Program (MRCS-EP)    |    Duration: 2008- 2009    |    Location: Lao PDR, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand

About: The countries of the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) are recognised as among the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world as severe floods, droughts, sea level rise and associated extreme windstorms are now happening and predicted to increase in terms of frequency, intensity and duration. In response to a request of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) for the development of a cooperative regional initiative to address climate change impacts and adaptation planning for the Lower Mekong Basin, the Mekong River Commission prepared the Climate Change and Adaptation Initiative (CCAI) with technical support from ICEM. The CCAI was approved at 29th MRC Joint Committee meeting in March 2009 and started implementation in August the same year. The CCAI is a long term initiative running over some 16 years to 2025 in three five-year phases in close collaboration with national partners, regional organizations and development partners.

The goal, objective and outcomes of the CCAI emphasise the increased capacity of relevant national agencies and stakeholders in undertaking climate change projections, impact and vulnerability assessment, and mainstreaming of climate change adaptations into development plans at different levels, ranging from local, national and basin-wide levels. The CCAI was operational from August 2009 as an intermediate phase running to the end of 2010. The focus of the Intermediate Phase (2009-2010) was on building capacity and awareness at national and regional level, setting up appropriate institutional and organization arrangement for CCAI implementation, basin-wide assessment of climate change and development impacts on Mekong water flow, building partnership with core implementing partners and synergy with MRC programs, and initiating local demonstration activities.

ICEM supported MRC in reviewing the CCAI Intermediate Phase and the overall CCAI Framework, as the basis for preparing the detailed CCAI Operational Document for Phase 1 (2011-2015). The work was conducted in closed consultation with national and regional partners and the MRC programmes, and in adherence with the MRC Strategic Plan 2011-2015. This work is also in accordance with the CCAI 4.5.3 activity “conducting review and revision of the CCAI framework document for each five year phase, including appraisal of its performance”.

Outputs of the CCAI were:

• A review report on the CCAI Intermediate Phase and improved version of the CCAI Framework Document based on a review of CCAI achievements, on-going progress and implementation
• A summary/concept note and outline of the CCAI Operational Document for Phase 1 (2011-2015) to be submitted for consideration of the 32nd Joint Committee meeting;
• Support documents as a first draft of CCAI Operational Document phase 1 (2011-2015) for consideration at the regional consultation meetings with the member countries;
A final CCAI Operational Document for Phase 1 (2011-2015) with concrete timeline, budget and schedules, based on the achievements and on-going progress of the intermediate phase to be submitted for consideration of the November 2010 MRC Council meeting.