Mercy Corps, Rockefeller Foundation Launch Asia Regional Network to Build City Resilience to Climate Change

At the first Asia-Pacific Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation this week in Bangkok, the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) will launch a member-based regional network headed by global humanitarian organization Mercy Corps. As a result of ACCCRN’s expanding footprint, Mercy Corps will build a larger coalition of national, regional and local practitioners and institutions committed to helping cities withstand and recover from the projected impacts of climate change. Today more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and this number will increase along with vulnerability to erratic and severe weather patterns.

“Increasing frequency and intensity of storms, unpredictable growing seasons, floods and drought are becoming a day-to-day climate reality in many parts of the world,” says Jim Jarvie of Mercy Corps and ACCCRN Network Director. “When coupled with the pace of urbanization, poor and migrant populations in urban areas are especially vulnerable. To save lives and protect homes and livelihoods, it’s important to invest in approaches to urban challenges embedded in governance to reduce vulnerabilities and make communities resilient.”

Since 2009, Mercy Corps has led ACCCRN in Indonesia in Bandar Lampung and Semarang, two cities prone to flooding and other environmental challenges, bringing together government and community leaders to strengthen emergency preparedness and plan coordinated responses to flooding, landslides and other disasters, as well as slower onset stresses from climate change.

“The launch of the ACCCRN network could not have come at a better time,” says Ashvin Dayal, Associate Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation. “There is an increasing need to put resilience principles into practice, as the confluence of urbanization, climate change and vulnerability becomes more palpable. The regional network will enable practitioners to connect, share experience and advance urban climate change resilience agendas together. This will help cities address day-to-day challenges, while also preparing them for whatever shocks may come their way, making them able to realize a resilience dividend.”

Launched in 2008 as an initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation, ACCCRN strengthens capacity of rapidly growing cities in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to better prepare for devastating shock events and more gradual changes. Since its founding, more than 50 cities have joined ACCCRN.

The expanded ACCCRN network is a membership-based platform, open to all concerned with building urban climate change resilience. Practitioners and institutions can join the new ACCCRN network at acccrn.net.

About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a leading global humanitarian agency saving and improving lives in the world’s toughest places. With a network of experienced professionals in more than
40 countries, we partner with local communities to put bold ideas into action to help people recover, overcome hardship and build better lives. Now, and for the future. www.mercycorps.org

About the Rockefeller Foundation
For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation pursues this mission through dual goals: advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity, and building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at the intersection of four focus areas – advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities – to address the root causes of emerging challenges and create systemic change. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot – or will not. To learn more, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.