Project Description
The primary objective of the activity is the design and delivery of two virtual Australian Awards Short Courses for participants from South Asian countries. The short courses will cover climate change mitigation and adaptation, with a specific focus on best practices in water resources management (WRM) and water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) for achieving water security outcomes. Participants will build knowledge and skills through presentations, case studies from Australia and throughout South Asia and engaging online workshops providing tools and approaches that support climate change decision making, policy and planning with respect to WaSH & WRM. GEDSI intersections will be interwoven into every short course, particularly those relating to gendered impacts, the specific requirements of people with a disability, the elderly and young children, and the nuanced requirements of ethnic minorities. Building professional contacts and linkages will be an important long-term strategic aim of the activities.
Project Personnel and Beneficiaries
Participants chosen for this course come from a variety of backgrounds including Government, Civil Society/NGO’s, consulting, academia among others. Participants are also at different stages in their careers and are at differing positions.
This short course will explore climate change mitigation and adaptation, with a specific focus on best practices in water resources management (WRM) and water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) for achieving water security outcomes.
Participants will build knowledge and skills through engaging online sessions which will showcase evidence, case studies, tools and approaches that can support climate change decision making, policy and planning with respect to WaSH & WRM.
Outcomes to Date
Over 80 participants have completed this course in 2023. Previous cohorts from Asia, Africa and the Pacific were delivered in 2022. Participants who have completed this course have developed new skills, understanding and learning of Water and Climate Change.
Project Significance
Climate change represents the greatest threat to lives and livelihoods of people throughout the Indo-Pacific. This warming is indisputably fuelled by human activities. Across the Indo-Pacific, rapidly changing climate has significant implications for water, people and the environment. In southern Asia, glacial melt, seasonal flooding, slow rates of groundwater recharge and severe droughts already impact communities’ livelihoods and subsistence activities. In lower-lying southeast Asian countries, flooding (saltwater and freshwater), salinisation of groundwater resources, coastal inundation and severe cyclone events threaten millions of people.
Throughout the Pacific, sea level rise, storms and cyclones, flooding, droughts and changes in rainfall seasonality disrupt traditional behaviours and reliance on natural cycles.
While the specific issues affecting communities change from region to region, climate change is driving significant socio-ecological responses throughout the Indo-Pacific. Critically, climate change disproportionately exposes the most vulnerable in our communities to greater risks. Women and girls, who are often responsible for water-related activities in homes, and the disabled, who do not always have the means and support to survive growing climate-related threats, are being exposed to intensifying climate threats.
Recognising the climate change challenge faced by countries within the region, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Climate Change Action Strategy and Paris Agreement obligations calls for Australia’s development assistance programs to build capacity in developing countries to enable them to build resilience and adapt to climate climate change. The DFAT supported Climate Change and Water Short Courses through AWP will fill an urgent need for knowledge sharing, capacity The courses will facilitate the sharing of ideas, pooling of resources and collaborative action addressing climate change threats to water and people.