This document provides a framework for understanding how social protection can address the socio-economic challenges arising from climate change in the Asia-Pacific region. It outlines the need for a shift in vision around social protection and climate change and explores how social protection can be used to manage the medium to long-term impacts of climate change. This report is valuable for social protection and climate policymakers and practitioners in the Asia-Pacific region.
Key Insights
Reducing Underlying Vulnerability
Social protection can reduce vulnerability to climate change by reducing income poverty, contributing to human development, and supporting increased equity and social justice.
Responding to Climate Shocks
Social protection can transfer income to cushion the effects of climate shocks and disasters.
Offsetting Negative Welfare Impacts
Social protection can support those whose income security is affected by policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Facilitating and Enabling Adaptation
Social protection can incentivize behaviors and practices that enable climate change adaptation.
Contributing to Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Social protection can promote engagement in mitigation activities or measures that reduce emissions.
Key Statistics & Data
- Climate change will significantly increase the depth and scale of poverty in the region and worldwide.
- The Asia-Pacific region is particularly exposed and vulnerable to climate change due to its high dependence on agriculture.
- Climate change will have impacts on water and food systems, health and wellbeing systems, and urban and infrastructure systems.
Implications and Conclusions
The current conceptualization of social protection needs to be reconsidered in response to the vast economic and social transformations that climate change will bring about. The sector’s strategic vision and programming needs to be climate informed and accommodate the profound implications of climate change in terms of scale, type, duration, and spatial distribution of social protection needs.
Key Points
- Climate change will significantly increase poverty and vulnerability in the Asia-Pacific region by mid-century, requiring a transformation in social protection systems.
- Social protection can support climate-resilient development by reducing vulnerability, responding to shocks, offsetting negative impacts of climate policies, facilitating adaptation, and contributing to emissions reduction.
- Current social protection efforts are insufficient to address the scale of climate change impacts and need strategic alignment with national and regional climate strategies.
- The sector's strategic vision and programming needs to be climate-informed to accommodate the profound implications of climate change in terms of scale, type, duration, and spatial distribution of social protection needs.
- Reconceptualizing social protection requires radical rethinking across institutions, policy alignment, coverage, program design, operational systems, and financing.
- Climate change will impact food and water security; health and nutrition; infrastructural stress; urban pressure; local economic and labour market performance; poverty and inequality; peace and mobility, and overall economic growth.
- The Asia-Pacific region is particularly exposed and vulnerable to climate change due to its high dependence on agriculture and the clustering of significant populations and infrastructure in coastal cities.