From 2006-2011, up to 60 percent of Syria’s land experienced, in the terms of one expert, “the worst long-term drought and most severe set of crop failures since agricultural civilizations began in the Fertile Crescent many millennia ago”. According to a special case study from last year’s Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR), of the most vulnerable Syrians dependent on agriculture, particularly in the northeast governorate of Hassakeh (but also in the south), “nearly 75 percent ... suffered total crop failure”. Herders in the northeast lost around 85 percent of their livestock, affecting 1.3 million people.

Read more: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/climate-conversations/climate-change...

The Asian Development Bank says climate change is likely to become a key cause of migration in Asia in the coming decades.

In a new report, the bank says more than 42 million people in the region were displaced by environmental disasters over the past two years alone.

Read more: http://www.rferl.org/content/asian_development_bank_says_climate_linked_...

The world's poorest people will be first hit and hit hardest by climate change. Droughts, floods and famines are already taking their toll.

In view of climate change, the world has a real chance to take a new approach to solving global problems and seizing global opportunities.

As the UN Conference on Climate Change in Durban approaches, DFID continues to concentrate efforts on protecting forests, helping poor countries to adapt to the changing climate and on supporting countries in low carbon development.

These three infographics show some of the action being taken and what results are being achieved.

Read more: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Stories/Features/2011/Forests-food-and-fuel-our-c...

The Asia-Pacific region needs to spend about $40 billion a year to "climate proof" its economies against the impact of global warming, Asian Development Bank vice president Bindu Lohani said Monday.

Countries need to undergo "transformational change" to build resilience to climate change disasters, Lohani told the Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum in Bangkok.

Read more: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/319491

The Asian Development Bank is expected to invest about $100 million in a multinational fund that will be put up to boost investments in environment-related technologies and projects in developing countries like the Philippines.

The planned investment in the Climate Public-Private Partnership Fund has already been endorsed by Bindu Lohani, acting head of the ADB, to its board of directors.

Read more: http://business.inquirer.net/47543/adb-plans-to-invest-100m-in-environme...

To meet the threat of climate change, Bangladesh launched a national strategy and action plan 2009. A multi donor climate change fund will help the government to implement the ten-year plan and Sweden will be contributing SEK 90 million.

Read more: http://www.sida.se/English/Countries-and-regions/Asia/Bangladesh/Program...

The small-scale farmers in Bolivia’s arid regions are very vulnerable to climate change. To meet the farmers’ needs and teach them new agricultural methods, the local authorities need to develop their capacity. This will be done through the threeyear project PROAGRO 2.

Read more: http://www.sida.se/English/Countries-and-regions/Latin-America/Bolivia/P...

Tom Tanner makes the case for pro-poor adaptation to climate change. By making adaptation sensitive to the needs of the groups most affected by climate change responses could double as a pathway out of poverty.

The project development objective is to enhance adaptation to climate change in agriculture and irrigation water management practices through awareness-raising, institutional and capacity strengthening, and demonstration activities in the 3H basin. The reallocation is necessary to adjust for the appreciation of the Chinese currency over the US dollar since the time of project effectiveness, and to shift resources away from slow progressing activities towards faster moving activities.

Read more: http://www.worldbank.org/projects/documents/2011/10/15532080/china-mains...

This workbook is intended to help policy makers in developing countries plan for a safer future in urban areas in the face of natural disasters and the consequences of climate change. It is based on the experiences of three cities in Vietnam, Can Tho, Dong Hoi, and Hanoi, that worked with international and local experts under World Bank supervision to develop local resilience action plans (LRAPs) in 2009-10.

Read more: http://go.worldbank.org/Q4RPZGYVQ0