CAREC Institute and Asian Development Bank Host Online Policy Dialogue on Climate Extremes and Economic Resilience
The CAREC Institute and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) recently co-hosted an online policy dialogue titled “Environmental Extremes, Economic Impacts, and Resilience in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region: The Case of Dzud in Mongolia.” The virtual session brought together policymakers, researchers, and development partners to examine the economic losses of climate extremes and explore approaches toward systemic resilience.
In opening remarks, Dr. Kuat Akizhanov, Deputy Director Two of the CAREC Institute, highlighted the region’s growing vulnerability to climate change, citing the devastating 2024 dzud in Mongolia as an example. The disaster claimed over 8 million livestock and contracted the agricultural sector’s GDP by 35%. ADB Chief Economist Dr. Albert Park further noted that landlocked CAREC countries are particularly exposed to such climatic extremes, underscoring the urgent need to build economic resilience.
To examine these impacts, experts shared relevant dzud-related research. Dr. Dina Azhgaliyeva from ADB observed that extreme climate has a disproportionate impact across households, with vulnerable groups facing particularly severe coping pressures. Shifting to macroeconomic consequences, Dr. Tuvshintugs Batdelger from the National University of Mongolia revealed that a 1 percentage point increase in dzud-affected land reduces household real net income by 0.19%. His research further showed that families reallocate resources heavily toward food, with higher-income households, despite having larger herds, facing proportionally larger income losses.
Turning to practical solutions, discussions focused on optimizing early warning systems and integrating traditional coping mechanisms into national policies. Speakers also highlighted the need for comprehensive, actionable “last mile” guidance, improved local institutional capacity, and regional solutions such as transboundary early warning systems and macro-fiscal instruments to build systemic climate resilience.
The dialogue framed climate change as a critical socioeconomic challenge, underscoring the imperative to shift from reactive disaster response to systematic, anticipatory, and regionally coordinated resilience frameworks. Participants recommended advancing this transition by leveraging the CAREC Climate Change Action Plan 2025-2027, supported by the CAREC Climate and Sustainability Project Preparatory Fund. These initiatives aim to integrate local coping knowledge into national policies, deepen regional cooperation, and foster pragmatic policy dialogue.