Adaptation through Water 2025

Adaptation is critical for Southeast Asia 1 Climate change is taking a huge toll on life, property and economies in the region. Annual flooding causes at least $2 billion in losses and precipitation is projected to increase 9%. Southeast Asia is experiencing the impacts of climate change to a greater extent than any other region in the world; and those impacts are worsening each year, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Depending on the emissions scenario, temperatures in the region could rise by up to 3.5°C by the 2050s.1 In 2024 alone, as the global annual mean temperature exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial baseline for the first time, the region experienced unprecedented extreme weather events. Flooding in Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam displaced hundreds of thousands of people (more than half a million in Thailand alone) and killed dozens. In less than a month, six cyclones struck the Philippines, while flooding and landslides resulting from a typhoon left more than 230 people dead in Viet Nam. Sea levels throughout the region are rising faster than the global average and 19 of the 25 cities most exposed to a one-metre rise are in Asia. Beyond exacerbating coastal erosion, rising sea levels cause more frequent and severe flooding, threatening infrastructure and communities, particularly in low- lying areas and deltas. Meanwhile monsoons are intensifying, as the region copes with more frequent and intense rainfall (“rain bombs”). Overall precipitation in Southeast Asia is projected to increase 9% towards the end of the century.2 In major Southeast Asian countries, the number of days with more than 20 mm of precipitation is expected to increase by between 25% and 50% in the next 25 years. Over the same period, single-day precipitation accumulation could exceed 2000 levels by 8%.3 Every year, flooding causes at least $2 billion in direct losses and 152 million people (25% of the region’s population) are at risk. Shifting rainfall patterns are causing extreme dry weather, heatwaves and droughts. Record-high temperatures in 2024 triggered health alerts and school closures, while drought threatened Thailand’s sugar and rice production, the nation’s largest crop and key export respectively. These climate effects extend across sectors, impairing everything from crop yields and fisheries production to water quality and hydroelectric power (crucial to the Mekong region’s 100 million residents). By any measure – and there is no shortage of measures – the impacts on human safety, health and livelihoods, as well as on the region’s resources and economies, are inordinately high. What is less often calculated is the cost of inaction. According to recent World Economic Forum analysis,4 companies face mounting physical risks that could harm up to 25% of their EBITDA within the next two decades if they do not prepare. 19 of the 25 cities most exposed to sea level rise are in Asia. 152 million people in Southeast Asia (25% of the population) are at risk from flooding