LAUSR

Abstract Asia is identified as one of the regions that will be hardest hit by climate variability and change that are projected to adversely affect many natural and human systems. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) noted that Asia’s large population, the frequency of natural disasters in the region, and unplanned urbanization, with population relocation to coastal cities, are some of the factors that make Asia especially vulnerable to climate risks. Realizing these challenges, the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) has been supporting various regional-based research and capacity building projects to enhance the interlinkages among science, policy and action for managing climate change risk in various sectors such as water, environment, and health, among others. To date, APN has supported more than 450 projects to various organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. This special issue is composed of fifteen original articles contributed by the project leaders or members of the projects supported by APN over the last 5 years. The contributors to the issue were first invited to present in ‘International Symposium on Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation: Asian Perspective’ on 16‒18 October, 2019 at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand. The articles consist of climate change projections, assessment of climate change impacts on health, water resources (including groundwater) and its security, assessment of the resiliency of micro business, community and government entities to climate change and human development, and a knowledge synthesis of APN climate adaptation projects in Asia. The outputs of these articles are expected to support the formulation of adaptation policies to offset the negative impacts of climate change on natural and human systems, add value to the scientific literature, and help shape local, regional and global agendas on climate change.