AP-PLAT Framework
for Action
2023-2025

AP-PLAT Framework for Action 2023-2025
Copyright © 2023 Ministry of the Environment, Japan.
All rights reserved. No parts of this publication on may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage andretrieval system, without prior permission in writing from Ministry of the Environment Japan, National
Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan (NIES) and Institute for Global Environment Strategies (IGES),
which work for AP-PLAT.
Ministry of the Environment, Japan
1-2-2 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8795 Japan
Tel: +81-(0)3-3581-3351
http://www.env.go.jp/en/
National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES)
16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305-8506 Japan
Tel: +81-(0)29-850-2314
https://www.nies.go.jp/index-e.html
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
2108-11 Kamiyamaguchi, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0115 Japan
Tel: +81-(0)46-855-3700
http://www.iges.or.jp/en2

Contents
1. Vision, Mission, Approach of AP-PLAT......................................................................................................... 4
2. Immediate Priority Issues and Actions of AP-PLAT..................................................................................... 4
2-1. Fundamental issues and efforts to promote adaptation.................................................................... 4
2-2. Individual issues related to the promotion of adaptation and efforts to address them................... 5
4. Membership of AP-PLAT............................................................................................................................... 7
4-1. Operational body of AP-PLAT................................................................................................................ 7
4-2. Definition and scope of AP-PLAT supporting organizations............................................................... 7
5. Content and purpose of AP-PLAT plenary meeting..................................................................................... 8
6. Updating and Revising the Framework for Action....................................................................................... 93

1. Vision, Mission, Approach of AP-PLAT
The vision, mission and approach of AP-PLAT shall be as follows:
VisionMissionApproach

Sustainable and climate resilient development in the Asia-Pacific region
The mission of AP-PLAT is to support best science-based decision-making andpromotion of effective climate change adaptation measures in the Asia-Pacific region,in light of climate change risks, through strengthening partnerships with diverse
stakeholders, and to boost international adaptation efforts, with the UNFCCC process
at its core. In particular, AP-PLAT aims to contribute to the achievement of the Global
Goal on Adaptation (GGA) set out in the Paris Agreement, given the importance ofimproving all countries’ capacity in adaptation, strengthening resilience, and reducing
vulnerability.
To achieve its mission, AP-PLAT will pursue the following basic approaches.
• Actively promote partnerships with national and local governments, relevantorganizations, and the private sector, which are key actors in promoting adaptation
measures in the Asia-Pacific region. Specifically, AP-PLAT will function as aneffective platform for creating opportunities for collaboration and promoting
dialogue among supporting organizations and will effectively promote good
adaptation practices.
• Establish three pillars of AP-PLAT activities, namely developing a scientificinformation and knowledge base, providing support tools, and capacity development
and development of human resources through the above partnerships.
• Analyze and understand trends in adaptation needs in the Asia-Pacific region, andactively promote collaboration and dialogue with existing initiatives and platforms,
to accurately prioritize adaptation needs in the region and focus on activities thatare complementary and value-added to existing efforts, including those by AP-PLAT
supporting organizations.

2. Immediate Priority Issues and Actions of AP-PLAT
2-1. Fundamental issues and efforts to promote adaptation
In the Asia-Pacific region, while there is a shared importance and urgency to addressing climate changerisks, a platform that comprehensively consolidates the information necessary to address these risks does
not yet exist. There is also limited horizontal collaboration among countries and relevant organizations in
the region and sparse cross-disciplinary collaboration, such as the use of risk assessment information foradaptation measures and project design.
To overcome these challenges, AP-PLAT aims to strengthen regional partnerships for promoting
climate change adaptation by effectively utilizing the strengths and experiences of AP-PLAT supportingorganizations as well as adaptation-related technologies and solutions. To strengthen regional partnerships
the following priorities will be addressed:• Establish a one-stop, comprehensive information platform to organize and provide relevant information
on adaptation in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Identify opportunities for comprehensive, strategic collaboration by understanding the overlap ofexisting efforts by national and local governments, relevant institutions, and private sector in the region,
as well as unfilled gaps in regional needs.

4• Launch new projects to co-create information, tools, and initiatives for capacity development neededin the Asia-Pacific region among AP-PLAT supporting organizations based on the identified gaps andopportunities, and in collaboration with relevant donors.

2-2. Individual issues related to the promotion of adaptation and efforts to address them
While considering the trends and efforts in international climate change adaptation and loss and damage
associated with the adverse effects of climate change coordinated by the UNFCCC, focus should be puton the following issues to implement the above-mentioned measures:
Better decision-making and early action based on climate information
To promptly address the adverse effects of climate change and disaster risk, it is important to promote
more reliable climate-informed decision-making at all levels — national, sub-national, local, and community.
Enabling early action based on scientifically sound climate information is key to building resilience,protecting the lives and property of those most vulnerable to climate change. Many challenges must be
overcome, however, such as downscaling climate information, bringing global climate information tovulnerable countries, and sub-national, local, and community levels, ensuring that it links to early action.
AP-PLAT will work with diverse stakeholders, including the private sector,to leverage climate informationand create solutions for early action (including contributing to theinitiative announced by the UN in March2022 to “ensure every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems within the next five years”)
through supporting better decision-making at appropriate geographic scales.
Practice Locally-led Adaptation
Given that the manifestation of climate change impacts is highly dependent on national, sub-national,
local, and community contexts, it is important that adaptation efforts are led by people in the target
region who have knowledge and experience in those contexts. Locally-led adaptation (LLA) is a conceptthat has emerged from this thinking, and it suggests the importance of promoting adaptation at the
local or community level. The LLA concept is effective for building community resilience by transferring
resources such as funds and information from the national level to the community level, and encouraging
local stakeholders to take a central role in the initiative. However, LLA initiatives have not yet been fullyrecognized in practice. AP-PLAT will promote the spread of LLA by sharing lessons learned and goodpractice experience in the Asia-Pacific region to increase the number of practical examples.
Addressing compound and cascading disaster risks
The impacts of climate change are diverse, and are not limited to a single extreme weather event, but canbe compound and cascading due to a combination of multiple events, including chronic (slow-onset) andacute (sudden-onset) events. A significant proportion of global economic losses by climate change anddisasters are attributed to the damages caused to critical infrastructure sectors such as power, transport,
and telecommunication. It is imperative to promote disaster-resilient infrastructure to adequately prepare
for impacts and reduce vulnerabilities through comprehensive planning, delivery, financing, operation, andmanagement. However, the current state of knowledge on compound and cascading disaster risks causedby climate change has not been sufficiently accumulated, and the debate on how countermeasures shouldbe implemented has not yet fully developed. Therefore, to expand the response to compound and cascading
disaster risks, specific solutions must be sought in light of the climate and socioeconomic risks unique tothe Asia-Pacificregion. AP-PLAT will further explore ways to address such compound and cascading risks.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Adaptation plans are being developed and implemented at the national, sub-national, local, and community
level. The next step is to accelerate adaptation efforts by checking the progress of adaptation plans,reviewing them accordingly, and updating them appropriately. The key to this cycle of adaptation is themonitoring and evaluation of adaptation measures. Unfortunately, this can be fraught with difficulties, suchas the lack of a single indicator to measure optimal adaptationmeasures, which can vary across sectors andregions. AP-PLAT will work on knowledge sharingand development of tools to overcome these challenges.

5Mainstreaming synergies between climate change and biodiversity
Climate change and biodiversity conservation are very closely related issues. Climate change has enormous
impacts not only on human society but also on ecosystems, and conversely, changes in ecosystems
also affect greenhouse gas emissions and absorption, as well as regional resilience and vulnerability.
In addition, the introduction and implementation of simultaneous solutions to the problems of climatechange and biodiversity conservation may bring additional multifaceted benefits to the region concerned.
In this context, it is expected that nature-based solutions (NbS) will play a bigger role in adaptation as aninclusive concept, such as Eco-DRR and green infrastructure. AP-PLAT aims to mainstream this perspectivein the Asia-Pacific regionand develop feasible elements to create synergies between climate change andbiodiversity.
Promotion of public-private partnerships
In promoting adaptation, there are growing expectations for contributions not only from the publicsector,
but also from the private sector in terms of technology, services, and finance. For the private sector, it
is important to minimize the impacts of climate change and aim for sustainable management basedon appropriate climate risk management. Furthermore, private sector technologies and services that
contribute to adaptation can lead to the expansion of adaptation business models. AP-PLAT will actively
engage in both climate risk management and adaptationbusiness promotion to accelerate collaboration
with the private sector in the Asia-Pacific region.

3. Main Functions of AP-PLAT
To ensure that AP-PLAT’s activities are in line with the three pillars described in Approach 2 above, theplatform has three specific functions:
1. Development of a scientific information and knowledge base
Efforts will be made to collect, organize, and analyze climate risk information (e.g., climate change impact
assessments and future projections) and data owned by, and accessible to, national and local policymakers,
researchers, donors, and the private sector for the purpose of using this information in adaptation planningand implementation based on scientific knowledge (e.g., climate change impact assessments and future
projections). Furthermore, new data and information will be collected, developed, and studied in responseto needs and knowledge gaps indicated by stakeholders.
2. Provision of support tools
A toolkit will be developed to support adaptation planning and adaptation measures forpolicymakers atnational and local levels, researchers, donors, and private sector operators.
3. Capacity development and development of human resources
Capacity development activities will be conducted to link adaptation actions based on scientific evidence(e.g., risk assessment, formulation of adaptation measures, financing and implementation of adaptation
measures, monitoring and evaluation, etc.). Activities include networking among institutions related tocapacity development, developing and sharing knowledge products, linking with existing training programs
and implementing support activities, exploring new cooperation opportunities to promote capacity
development, launching thematic capacity development courses, and promoting bottom-up climatechange adaptation actions.

6ApplyFeedback
TOOLS

Apply

SCIENTIFICINFORMATION

Feedback

CAPACITY
DEVELOPMENT

Use

Feedback

Figure 1. Three main functions of AP-PLAT and their interrelationships
AP-PLAT activities will be developed based on the Framework for Action (i.e., this document), which will
be formulated every three years in line with these three pillars. As shown in Figure 1, activities under thesethree pillars will be promoted in a mutually complementary manner. “Scientific information and knowledge”
will be actively utilized in the development of “support tools” and in “capacity development” activities. The“support tools” will be utilized in activities for “capacity development”. Furthermore, various views obtained
through “capacity development” will be effectively fed back to improve the quality of the “support tools”
and the capacity to capture and analyze “scientific information and knowledge”. As a means to effectively
sustain these mutually complementary relationships, information on the activities of each of the three pillars
will be regularly shared among supporting organizations at various meetings as described in Section 5.

4. Membership of AP-PLAT
4-1. Operational body of AP-PLAT
AP-PLAT is managed by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, the National Institute for Environmental
Studies (NIES), and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), with the aim of driving
collaboration among the sponsoring organizations and promoting activities based on the three pillars under
the Vision, Mission and Approach of AP-PLAT. NIES will establish and operate the information infrastructure(AP-PLAT website) for sharing scientific information, knowledge, and tools, while the formulation of APPLAT activity policies and the development and revision of the AP-PLAT Framework for Action will be
carried out based on comments from AP- PLAT supporting organizations at the AP-PLAT plenary meeting.
The three organizations will develop and revise the AP-PLAT activity policy and the AP-PLAT Framework
for Action based oncomments from AP-PLAT supporting organizations at the AP-PLAT plenary meeting.
In accordance with the future development of AP-PLAT, consideration shall include the establishmentof an “AP-PLAT Steering Committee” with the participation of other relevant organizations, in order tofurther promote specific adaptation efforts, in line with the status of cooperation and collaboration among
relevant organizations in the region.

4-2. Definition and scope of AP-PLAT supporting organizations
Organizations supporting AP-PLAT are those that agree with AP-PLAT’s vision, mission, and approach, andpromote activities based on the platform’s three pillars, while emphasizing the co- creation of information,
tools, and initiatives for adaptation through collaboration. Supporting organizations are not obligatedto do anything specific, but are envisioned as entities that utilize AP-PLAT as a platform according to theirneeds and interests.
However, if deemed necessary under each of the three AP-PLAT pillars, new partnership mechanisms
for stronger collaboration may be introduced.
Supporting organizations will participate in activities in line with the purpose of the AP-PLAT, and will
be responsible for the following:7• Providing comments for the development and revision of the activity policy of AP-PLAT and the APPLAT Framework for Action• Providing knowledge and feedback on tools and climate-related information• Dissemination of tools and information provided by AP-PLAT• Actively help identify gaps and opportunities for collaboration on local adaptation, and propose andimplement specific initiatives to address them.
• In addition to being able to participate in each of the AP-PLAT meetings and plenary sessions, AP-PLAT
members will also benefit from• Participation in AP-PLAT related events at international events such as the UNFCCC COP• Sharing and publicizing the initiatives of each supporting organization on the AP-PLAT website• Publication of the initiatives of each supporting organization in relevant reports on each AP- PLAT
initiative• Etc.
To become an AP-PLAT supporting organization, submission of an application form to the AP-PLAT
Operational body is needed. The AP-PLAT Operational body will then decide whether or not the applicant iseligible to become an AP-PLAT supporting organization. Applications to become an AP-PLAT supportingorganization are not limited to national or local governments. Submissions are welcome from relatedorganizations such as private sector entities, NGOs and other related organizations. If a supportingorganization wishes to withdraw its membership, it may do so at any time by notifying the AP-PLAT
operational body in writing of its intention to do so.

5. Content and purpose of AP-PLAT plenary meeting
The content and purpose of the AP-PLAT plenary meeting is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Contents and purpose of AP-PLAT meetings
Types (Frequency)

Participants

Plenary Meeting(Once a year)

Supportingorganizations,Operational body

Purpose and contents of the meetings• Exchange opinions on AP-PLAT’s activity policy(including opinions on the formulation and revision of
the “AP-PLAT Framework for Action”)• Discussion of specific opportunities forcollaboration based on AP-PLAT’s activity policy• Report on the progress of various AP-PLATactivities
and confirm future direction• Sharing of activities and results by supportingorganizations• Promote exchanges among AP-PLAT
supporting organizations.

The plenary meeting is open to all AP-PLAT supporting organizations, and is an opportunity to discussspecific opportunities for collaboration based on AP-PLAT’s overall activity policy, exchange opinions on
the activity policy, report on the progress of AP-PLAT’s various activity plansand confirm future directions,as well as share activities and achievements by each supporting organization.
Sub-group meetings may be held as necessary for each of the three pillars of AP-PLAT. Supportingorganizations are expected to actively participate in the plenary meeting and the sub- group meetings foreach of the three pillars.

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6. Updating and Revising the Framework for Action
The “AP-PLAT Framework for Action” will be updated every three years, in line with trends in international
discussions on adaptation and the status of various related initiatives, with a view to gradually strengthening
cooperation and collaboration among AP-PLAT supporting organizations.However, updates may also bemade at other times as necessary.
This document shall be valid from April 2023 to March 2026, and shall be updated based on thestatus ofactivities outlined in this document.

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