Emerging response options and scenarios of slow onset events related to climate change in Southeast Asia

Abstract

The negative effects of slow onset events (SOEs) related to climate change are already affecting developing countries, with the resulting impacts likely to increase significantly. With an increasing urgency to act on SOEs, this paper systematically reviewed and synthesized literature on SOEs in Southeast Asia (SEA), which is a region of several highly climate vulnerable countries. With a focus on scenarios and emerging response options by affected sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, we found that the drivers of SOEs in SEA are both indirect and direct and have confounding impacts. Only a few researches used scenarios and models for assessing SOEs in SEA, a majority of which use Representative Concentration Pathways and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. The impacts of SOEs range from environmental, ecological, economic, and social factors and require integrated response options including mitigation or adaptation that pay attention to the complexity of the intersection between human and natural systems.