GEO-6 Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific


The ecosystem approach to fisheries management of the Coral Triangle Initiative for Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) helps protect a substantial area of ocean ecosystems in the Indo-Pacific and has strong political support from the relevant governments. Healthy coastal ecosystems are important for aquaculture, fisheries and forests and provide a source of income for coastal populations through eco-tourism and agriculture. They also act as potential buffer zones during extreme weather events, preventing coastal erosion and salt-water intrusion. The Green Coast Project is one such initiative implemented in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with the objective of restoring livelihoods and improving resilience to the impacts of climate change.


East Kolkata Wetlands was a threatened Ramsar site in Eastern India. Based on the Biorights model, the shrinking of the wetland has been reversed, with prevention of habitat loss (Dey 2010).


In 2007, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia launched the Heart of Borneo initiative with the objective of preserving the biodiversity of one of the largest islands in the world, accounting for almost 6 per cent of global biodiversity in tropical forests. The initiative benefited people relying on the tropical forest for their livelihoods, while helping sustainable management of forests and land use (WWF 2015).


The countries of the Greater Mekong sub-region launched a Core Environment Programme to address the increasing environmental pressure arising from economic growth. The Asian Development Bank administers the programme, but it is managed by the respective environment ministries, with a working group ensuring effective implementation of environmentally friendly and climate-resilient goals (ADB 2015). A Climate Change and Adaptation Initiative (CCAI) was established by the Mekong River Commission for strengthening and sharing adaptive capacity and resilience in the Mekong countries (Mekong River Commission 2015).


To promote the sustainable use of shared marine resources, eight countries (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia,


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Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand), established the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem project. It is supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the FAO, amongst other international organizations (BOBLME 2015).


Beginning in the 1970s, a long-term, massive afforestation programme, due to run to 2050, was initiated to prevent the expansion of the Gobi Desert and fight desertification in northern China. Despite the success of planting 36 million hectares of new forest across approximately 4 500 kilometres of northern China, positive effects are still emerging due to the planting of various tree species, little abatement of yellow dust storms and overuse of groundwater in arid lands (O’Connor and Ford 2014; Wang et al. 2010).


New agricultural practices that help retain water and soil nutrients and support biological soil processes in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia (which are relatively ecologically sound), are now being pushed by the state agricultural universities and departments. There is increased awareness among farmers of the benefits of zero-tillage and maintaining residue cover on the soil (Hobbs et al. 2006). Organic agriculture has had a strong response from farmers in India, as evident from the increase in the area under organic management from 42 000 hectares to more than 1 million hectares between 2003 and 2010 (India, Ministy of Agriculture and Famers Welfare 2015).


3.2.6 Addressing vulnerability


Spreading periodic national and local disaster risk reduction plans


Many countries in the region have successfully developed national frameworks and roadmaps for disaster risk reduction in light of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (Figure 3.2.4), and put substantial effort into multi-hazard management and public dissemination processes. Thailand, for instance, has developed a Master Plan for Prevention and Relief of Drought and a Strategic National Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction 2010–2019.


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