Although it is not possible to predict with absolute certainty the exact nature of climate impacts and resulting challenges each city will face, the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) helps cities and their citizens build flexible and dynamic systems and institutions that identify and respond to the challenges climate change poses to urban areas.

Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, ACCCRN is a cutting edge research and urban climate resilience action program being piloted in 10 cities in Asia. Through collaboration between outside experts, national partners, local governments, and other organizations, ACCCRN enables each partner city to confront the complexities of climate change and develop the local capacity to address their specific challenges. The current phase of the ACCCRN program is assisting partner cities to develop resilience strategies and associated implementation proposals. Cities engaged in the ACCCRN process will be able to anticipate how their vulnerabilities will be exacerbated and altered by climate change, identify urban populations most affected by changing conditions, and develop climate resilience strategies and actions to meet the most serious climate impacts.

Poor and vulnerable populations within each city are already challenged by urbanization and environmental degradation and have the potential to be further marginalized by centralized planning processes. Therefore, ACCCRN is engaging multiple community-based organizations and vulnerable stakeholder groups, as well as local governments, from the outset of the urban resilience planning process. ACCCRN is comprised of key stakeholders in each city, national partners in each country who are familiar with the climate change and disaster risk reduction policies of their countries, and international experts. ACCCRN partners are committed to building urban climate resilience as a continual process, realizing that as the climate changes, and urban areas grow, responses will need to constantly evolve. ACCCRN is building local capacity and ownership to ensure that resilience plans, strategies, and actions are sustainable and can advance even after the formal program ends. Keywords: Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation Keywords: Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation