Increasing climate resilience in ASEAN cities through inclusive Nature-based Solutions

ASEAN cities are growing. What for a long time has been seen to stand for a positive development and
increasing human wellbeing might be at a turning point due to the increasing risks that cities are, and
will be, exposed to from climate change (ASEAN 2022). In his video message related to the launch of
the 6th Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in April 2022,
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres warned the international community, stating:
“We are on a fast track to climate disaster. Major cities under water. Unprecedented heatwaves. Terrifying storms. Widespread water shortages. The extinction of a million species of plants and animals. This is not fiction or exaggeration. It is what science tells us will result from our current energy policies.” (UN 4/4/2022).
There is an urgent need for the adaptation of cities to climate change, as costs of inaction are projected
to be much higher than the costs for adaptation efforts (Depietri and McPhearson 2017). Cities face
different pre-conditions than rural areas, giving rise to distinct challenges. High concentrations of people,
urban infrastructure and valuable assets together with often exposed locations close to coastal areas
and floodplains make cities especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (Depietri and
McPhearson 2017). However, cities’ inhabitants are not impacted equally. Various factors including
poverty, inequality and the lack of access to basic services, play a significant role in shaping the
vulnerability of individuals and specific groups within the urban population, heightening their
susceptibility to climate risks (Dodman et al. 2022a; Dodman et al. 2018; IPCC 2022). Here, gender is
found to be an important determinant of vulnerability due to, among others, being intertwined with many
socio-economic factors contributing to higher vulnerability (Alber 2011; ASEAN and UN Women 2022).
Therefore, to leave no one behind, a special emphasis should be on focusing on groups in vulnerable
situations within the urban population, being among others women, children, the elderly, indigenous
people, low-income households, people with disabilities, and migrants (ASEAN 2021b; UN Habitat 2022;
Shaw, R., Luo, Y. et al. 2022).
The resilience of groups in vulnerable situations to climate risks, including women and girls can be
increased substantially if adaptation measures are conceptualized, designed and planned in an inclusive
way. Ideally, these measures not only incorporate the adaptation to climate risks, but lead to an overall
sustainable urban development with better and safer infrastructure solutions for all (OXFAM 2017;
McPhearson et al. 2023) — in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 “making cities and
human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” (UN General Assembly 2015).
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have increasingly gained attention over the last decades in the field of
climate change adaptation (CCA), due to their potential to address climate risks while providing
important economic, social and biodiversity benefits, often in a cost-effective way (Seddon et al. 2020).
In an urban environment, examples of NbS include open green spaces, urban farming, or the
renaturation of river floodplains. Implementing NbS can have various positive effects with regard to
mitigating climate-related hazards, such as lowering the ambient air temperature in heat-affected areas,
or increasing the water retention capacity, thereby reducing the flooding potential (McPhearson et al.
2023; World Bank Group 2021). Adding to that, NbS can create other co-benefits, such as providing
space for recreational activities, having a positive effect on air-quality, enhancing biodiversity or
increasing food security (Wolff et al. 2023; Tozer et al. 2023). However, although NbS are widely
perceived as viable approaches, recent assessments stress that the actual use of NbS still remains
limited (Kapos et al. 2019).
This paper investigates the potential of inclusive NbS projects to increase the resilience of the vulnerable
population in the Association of Southeast-Asian Nations (ASEAN) cities to climate-related risks. A
specific focus lies on inhabitants of informal settlements and women, as these are large population
groups especially vulnerable to climate change impacts in cities. Even though we focus on women as a
group in a vulnerable situation, we acknowledge the fact that gender is more complex than the binary
system of men and women. Therefore, whilst talking about women, we include all gender identities and
acknowledge intersectional vulnerabilities. Using inclusive approaches in the conceptualization of NbS
projects should benefit groups in vulnerable situations as well as women and girls beyond the scope of
adaptation to climate change. It can empower them in other realms of society, unlocking a transformative
potential (World Bank Group 2023; Wolff et al. 2022). Furthermore, many of this paper’s findings on conceptualizing inclusive projects can be applied to various climate adaptation projects, and are not
necessarily restricted to NbS measures.
The paper is structured into four sections. In section 1, key drivers of vulnerability to climate change
impacts in ASEAN cities are summarized, providing some relevant scientific background and explaining
the focus on informal settlements and gender aspects. The section concludes by highlighting the
importance of inclusive approaches to address the risks outlined. In section 2, the advantages of NbS
over grey solutions in CCA are discussed and three concrete examples of urban NbS are introduced:
open green spaces, urban farming and river floodplains. In section 3, the paper investigates key aspects
of NbS projects aiming at empowering women and other people in vulnerable situations. The role of
targeted analyses, participatory processes, inclusive NbS design, and of income generating activities
and capacity building are explored in more detail. Finally, entry points for mainstreaming NbS to
empower women and other people in vulnerable situations in urban settings are identified.

source :

https://adelphi.de/en/publications/increasing-climate-resilience-in-asean-cities-through-inclusive-nature-based-solutions