UN Women at the 9th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation (APAN) Forum

Date: 29 September – 3 October 2025
Location: United Nations Conference Center, Bangkok, Thailand

The Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation (APAN) Forum is the primary region-wide platform for adaptation practitioners to meet, share their learning and experiences, and work together towards pertinent outcomes and practical solutions needed to address the challenges of climate change. The 9th APAN Forum, held under the theme Resilience for All: Catalyzing Transformational Adaptation, will convene a diverse group of stakeholders, including governments, financing institutions, academia and research, international organizations, UN agencies, civil society organizations, youth organizations, and the private sector.

UN Women will actively participate and co-organize a series of sessions that spotlight gender equality as a cornerstone of transformational adaptation.

The Forum will also reflect on recent outcomes from the Conference of the Parties (COP) and generate regional insights and priorities to inform upcoming COP30 negotiations, ensuring that Asia-Pacific voices and gender perspectives shape global adaptation agendas.

DS.3 Co-Creating Transformational and Gender-Responsive Climate Adaptation in Asia – A Multistakeholder Dialogue (By invitation only)

30 September (Tuesday)
9:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Asia-Pacific Foyer, UN Conference Center 

Lead organizer: Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW)
Co-organizers: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD),UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and UN Women.

This dialogue will bring together adaptation practitioners, governments, research institutions, women’s groups, youth groups, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and people living with disabilities to co-create inclusive, gender-responsive climate adaptation strategies in the region. Participants will share knowledge and ground-level insights, focusing on women’s leadership, gender-responsive climate financing, and gender-responsive data systems. Outcomes will feed into APAN plenary and technical parallel sessions, as well as other regional policymaking platforms.

TS.4 Financing Transformational Adaptation from the Ground Up

1 October (Wednesday)
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Meeting Room A, UN Conference Center

Lead organizer: UN Development Programme (UNDP)
Co-organizers: Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), Equal Right, Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) International Development Research Centre (IDRC), UNEP, and UN Women

This session will explore the scale, challenges, and barriers in mobilizing adaptation finance across Asia, where only USD 34 billion of the estimated USD 431 billion annual need is currently met. It will spotlight innovative models and local experiences that reimagine climate finance to empower women and at-risk communities.

Focusing on inclusive and equitable adaptation, the discussion will highlight emerging pathways such as MSME engagement, adaptive financial resilience, and social protection systems, emphasizing the need to channel finance where it is most urgently needed.

TS.11 Regional Youth Adaptation Dialogue: Strengthening Youth Engagement for Climate Resilience in Asia-Pacific

2 October (Thursday)
4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Meeting Room A, UN Conference Center

Lead organizer: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Regional Collaboration Centre Asia and the Pacific
Co-organizers: Child Fund International, UN Women, UNDP, and Youth Empowerment in Climate Action Platform (YECAP)

This session will explore the role of children and youth in shaping climate adaptation policy and practice, with a focus on their engagement in National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). Through youth-led narratives and interactive dialogue, the session will highlight innovative adaptation solutions and identify strategies to enhance meaningful and sustained youth participation.

Inputs from governments, civil society, and other stakeholders will inform a collective roadmap to better integrate youth voices in the design and implementation of NAPs.

TS.1 Scaling Climate Justice: Gender and Inclusive Data for Transformational Adaptation

3 October (Friday)
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
ESCAP Hall, UN Conference Center

Lead organizer: UNEP
Co-organizers: ASEAN Centre for Energy, ARROW, Baithak Challenging Taboos, UN Women

This session explores how science, assessments, and knowledge systems can enable inclusive and gender-responsive climate adaptation. It will highlight strategies for scaling collective knowledge creation from communities navigating crisis contexts and discuss the integration of gender and adaptation indicators into planning, implementation, and monitoring frameworks.

Participants will gain insights on using gender-responsive data to inform policies, track progress, and align National Adaptation Plans with the Global Goal on Adaptation.

TS.10 Power in Many Forms: Inclusive and Intergenerational Leadership for Transformational Adaptation and Scalable Nature-based Solutions 

3 October (Friday)
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Meeting Room A, UN Conference Center

Lead organizer: UN Women
Co-organizers: ARROW, Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB), Civic Exchange, HelpAge International, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Seneca Impact, and UNEP

This interactive session explores how inclusive, feminist, and intergenerational leadership drives transformational climate adaptation across Asia and the Pacific. It highlights the critical roles of women and girls in all their diversities, including persons living with disabilities, older people, Indigenous Peoples, and youth, in shaping equitable, community-driven adaptation pathways.

Through real-world examples from gender-transformative leadership initiatives and nature-based solutions, the session will demonstrate how inclusive leadership strengthens systemic resilience. It will also examine the enabling environments that support such leadership and the barriers to embedding it at scale.