VZCZCXRO5092
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHBK #2046/01 2301038
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181038Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7941
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7331
RUEHBD/AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 3439
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 9861
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RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 0723
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 7563
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 7111
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 7518
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RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 7757
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 0787
RUEHMJ/AMEMBASSY MAJURO 0401
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RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 5803
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RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHZU/APEC COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCAA/GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDC/NOAA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/USPACOM LO WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 BANGKOK 002046 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/EGC,PCI; EAP, D, S/SECC-JPERSHING,CSIERAWSKI 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO EPA/OIA, DOE/PI, NOAA, NSF, USDA/FS 
USAID FOR ANE/AA,ANE/EAA,ANE/TS,ANE/SPO, EGAT/AA,/ESP,LPA 
INTERIOR FOR USGS, USFWS 
USDA FOR FAS, USFS 
PACOM FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY UNIT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID SENV ENRG ASEAN APECO TH
 
SUBJECT:  Progress on Asia Regional Center of Excellence on Climate 
Change and Development 
 
REF: Jakarta 1314 
 
BANGKOK 00002046  001.2 OF 008 
 
 
THIS IS AN ACTION MESSAGE.  SEE PARAGRAPH 17. 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY.  After a year of preparation, the USAID Regional 
Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) is ready to move forward with a 
feasibility assessment for the Asia Regional Center of Excellence on 
Climate Change and Development (ARC) in Bangkok.  The ARC is 
intended to serve as a network of leading technical institutions in 
Asia and the U.S. to enhance, catalyze, and expand innovation and 
action on climate change and development priorities in the 
Asia-Pacific region, and is a direct response to new Administration 
priorities for engaging the Asia region in addressing climate change 
and development challenges.  The ARC has been broadly vetted within 
USAID and State in Washington, and as conceived would contribute 
significantly to the President's Muslim World Initiative in Science, 
Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MWI).  ACTION REQUEST: 
RDMA requests the Department to ask EAP and relevant SCA posts (info 
addressees above) to provide key points of contact of leading 
technical and research institutions, universities, think tanks, and 
other partners who are likely to play an important role in 
partnership with the ARC.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
History - Asia Climate Change Center of Excellence 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2.  The RDMA began taking concerted steps in 2007 to significantly 
elevate its focus on global climate change (GCC) and prepared a 
five-year programming Road Map for the Asia-Pacific region with the 
support of the GCC team in USAID's Bureau for Economic Growth, 
Agriculture, and Trade (EGAT).  The idea for a GCC center of 
excellence for the Asia region originated in this Road Map and began 
to coalesce in early 2008 in connection with USAID's "Rebuilding 
USAID" initiative, one of the key pillars of which was to build 
capacity in regional centers to respond to complex challenges and 
provide specialized technical support to bilateral field Missions 
while maximizing the efficient use of Agency resources.  Among the 
earliest such initiatives proposed was to "expand the Bangkok 
platform to develop expertise in Global Climate Change and Energy." 
In response, RDMA was tasked with presenting brief summaries on 
possible "centers of excellence" for the Asia region for 
consideration by USAID's Business Transformation Executive Committee 
(BTEC). 
 
 
BANGKOK 00002046  002.2 OF 008 
 
 
¶3.  In March 2009, at the express request of BTEC and of USAID's 
Asia Bureau, RDMA prepared and submitted a concept note to the Asia 
Bureau and BTEC describing a new Asia Regional Center of Excellence 
on Climate Change and Development (ARC) that would serve the 
Asia-Pacific region and be based in Bangkok.  To date, the concept 
also has been shared with the USAID GCC team and Asia Bureau, 
State/OES, and approximately 95 USAID staff participating in the 
worldwide GCC and Development training in Washington last month. 
Positive feedback resulted from informal discussions with a number 
of posts in the Asia-Pacific region during the Asia Mission 
Directors meeting at PACOM in April 2009. 
 
¶4.  During the past several weeks, the ARC concept has been 
discussed with EAP A/S Campbell, when he accompanied the Secretary 
on her visit to Bangkok, as well as in Washington with the Deputy 
Envoy on Climate Change, Jonathan Pershing.  The ARC concept also 
has been incorporated into discussions among the agencies 
participating in the sub-IPC on Science and Technology, aimed at 
formulating actionable deliverables in connection with the 
President's Muslim World Initiative in Science, Technology, 
Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MWI). 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Climate Change Challenges in the Asia-Pacific Region 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶5.  The Asia region is central to USG efforts to address climate 
change due to the region's substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) 
emissions and its significant vulnerabilities to the impacts of 
climate change.  (Note, consistent with RDMA's geographic coverage, 
the term "Asia" encompasses comprehensively the broader Asia-Pacific 
region.)  China, Indonesia, and India rank among the top six GHG 
emitters worldwide, and since 2008 China has been the world's 
largest emitter overall.  By 2030, carbon dioxide emissions from 
energy consumed in Asia's largest developing countries are expected 
to jump from 23 to 50 percent of the world total, primarily due to 
surging coal and petroleum use.  Deforestation, poor forestry 
practices, and land degradation further contribute significantly to 
the region's GHG emissions. 
 
¶6.  As many as 2.5 billion people in the region are at risk from the 
effects of climate change, largely due to heavy dependence on 
threatened natural resources, large populations in coastal and other 
low-lying areas, and direct climate impacts ranging from water 
scarcity (e.g., seven major river systems dependent on Tibetan 
 
BANGKOK 00002046  003.2 OF 008 
 
 
glaciers), to sea-level rise, to increased frequency of severe 
weather in an already disaster-prone region.  Given these mounting 
challenges, RDMA has been actively advancing  the USG climate change 
and development agenda in the Asia-Pacific region, and has launched 
a series of new climate change-focused programs regionally and in 
China, as well as conducted a series of high-profile studies on key 
climate change challenges and opportunities in the region. 
Burgeoning interest in a regional climate change center of 
excellence has been a direct outgrowth of these initiatives. 
 
---------------------------- 
ARC Objectives and Functions 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7.  As outlined in the ARC concept note, which RDMA has shared with 
OES/EGC and S/SECC, the objective of the ARC is "to serve as a 
leading technical institution with world-class expertise, research, 
technical assistance, training, and knowledge sharing capabilities 
to enhance, catalyze, and expand innovation and action in order to 
advance USG climate change and development goals related to 
adaptation, forest and land use management, and clean energy in 
Asia."  In achieving these objectives, the ARC will facilitate 
information-sharing on current science and policy to inform and 
guide USAID and its partners (including other USG agencies) in more 
effectively addressing climate change and development challenges in 
Asia.  Core functions of the ARC will be to expand technical 
capacity and leadership in Asia's GCC and development, assisting 
USAID bilateral Missions and USG partners in developing and 
implementing climate change and development actions more 
effectively, and helping leverage private sector resources and 
partnerships to further augment impact.  Where appropriate, the ARC 
will also manage and implement targeted regional programs (such as 
regional data sharing systems). 
 
¶8.  The ARC will link to national-level policy developments on 
climate change in a range of countries, and thus complement ongoing 
bilateral activities of USAID missions, other USG agencies, and 
donors.  The ARC will also serve as a USG platform for mobilizing 
the whole range of USG expertise including the Department of 
Agriculture/Forest Service, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and 
Department of Energy (DOE).  Further synergies will result from 
coordination with other regional USG initiatives and offices, such 
as with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) DRAGON scientific network. 
 DRAGON was highlighted in the Secretary's ground-breaking meeting 
 
BANGKOK 00002046  004.2 OF 008 
 
 
with the Foreign Ministers from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and 
Vietnam last month in Phuket, which inaugurated the 
Mississippi-Mekong Sister River Partnership.  The ARC will also work 
closely with the OES regional ESTH hubs in Bangkok, Kathmandu and 
Suva. 
 
¶9.  ARC partners will conduct cutting-edge basic and applied 
research, analysis, testing, piloting, evaluation, and scale up, and 
work to disseminate innovative GCC policies, programs, tools, 
technologies, and practices in clean energy, forestry and land use, 
adaptation and resilience.  Targeted cutting-edge research supported 
through the ARC's strategic partnerships will aim to better 
understand regional, sub-regional, and local-level climate change 
challenges across a range of issues (e.g., glacial melt, coastal 
inundation, peatland emissions, and ocean acidification), in order 
to identify the best near and long-term response measures. 
Training, publications, and programs will aim to mobilize, catalyze, 
and scale up investments in innovative climate change and 
development solutions across the region.  To ensure the greatest 
benefits from these efforts, it is envisioned that the ARC will 
retain world-class U.S. and international expertise, support 
professional exchanges, engage with a broad community of leading 
researchers and practitioners, and directly link applied research 
and "learning" activities with education initiatives in the region. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
"Center" as Regional Network of Strategic Partners 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶10.  The ARC is envisioned to serve as a principal hub for 
innovation and knowledge-sharing through cooperative partnerships 
with state-of-the-art U.S., international, and regional science and 
technology research institutions, universities, and think tanks, as 
well as with the private sector, and regional and bilateral 
partners.  This "hub and spokes" concept is expected to provide the 
strongest possible framework for promoting regional cooperation and 
action on climate change and development challenges in the region, 
and aligns with existing partnership arrangements in the climate 
change and development sphere.  By providing these services through 
a broad network of institutions in the region, the Center will 
enhance, catalyze and expand innovation and action in order to 
achieve USG and partner country climate change and development goals 
related to clean energy, forest and land use management, and 
adaptation in the region. 
 
 
BANGKOK 00002046  005.2 OF 008 
 
 
¶11.  As the host for the ARC's central facility, Bangkok provides a 
major logistics, transportation, and communications hub for the 
region and sub-region.  Some 24 regional United Nations agencies and 
platforms operate from Bangkok -- most of which will play an 
important cooperative role on climate change -- as well as a number 
of regional universities (such as the Asian Institute of 
Technology), research and training centers, NGO-supported 
initiatives, and bilateral donors implementing regional programs. 
Bangkok is also the base for over ten USG agencies that support 
regional programs with a connection to climate change, and 
partnerships across more than 20 countries in East Asia (including 
China and the Tibetan Plateau), South Asia (including India and 
Bangladesh), Southeast Asia (including Indonesia), and the Pacific. 
While the ASEAN and APEC Secretariats may not be located in Bangkok, 
it remains a significant base from which the USG engages both.  Most 
of the international NGOs with climate change programs make their 
regional headquarters here.  Bangkok also provides a relatively high 
degree of security compared with other possible locations in the 
region.  For all these reasons, Bangkok is already the site of more 
climate change conferences and events than any other Asian city. 
The USG also has a huge presence in Thailand, with almost 40 offices 
and agencies, owing to the Royal Thai Government's flexibility 
accommodation on USG staffing levels.  Any staffing increases 
necessitated by the ARC could be easily achieved here, which may not 
be the case in some other Asian countries.  It is also worth noting 
that our close historical relationship with Thailand makes it 
extremely unlikely that we would ever have to precipitously reduce 
staffing levels for political or other reasons. 
 
¶12.  As conceptualized, the ARC will serve the Asia region in full 
coordination with USAID, State, and other USG counterparts based in 
the region.  RDMA recently updated its ARC Concept Note to reflect 
important new developments in connection with the President's Muslim 
World Initiative, and USAID now intends to address MWI priorities, 
such as partnering with key S&T institutions in Indonesia, 
Bangladesh, or in Muslim Majority Countries (MMCs) based on 
direction from Washington and planned technical consultations on 
feasibility and appropriateness.  Jakarta and Dhaka are the primary 
MMC locations being considered for sub-regional ARC representation. 
 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Partnership with U.S. Department of Energy 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
BANGKOK 00002046  006.2 OF 008 
 
 
¶13.  In support of further developing potential partnerships, 
USAID/RDMA has initiated discussions in Beijing this week with USDOE 
on opportunities for coordinating the development and operations of 
the ARC with the recently announced Joint Research Center on Clean 
Energy with China, and related scaled-up DOE deployment activities. 
Initial discussions were very positive and follow up meetings are 
planned. 
 
¶14. The opportunities for collaboration between the two centers in 
mobilizing national and regional innovation and best practices in 
clean energy are expected to be force multipliers for the products 
of both, given the complementarity of DOE's science research 
capacity and USAID's experience in capacity building, technical 
outreach, and private sector partnering.  USAID/RDMA's ongoing 
climate change programs meet the intent of the U.S.-China MOU signed 
at the July Strategic and Economic Dialogue.  These include 
U.S.-China partnerships addressing energy efficient lighting, 
cleaner coal, green buildings, legal regulatory framework for 
environmental enforcement, and community based energy efficiency 
initiatives in Guangdong Province co-financed by General Electric, 
Wal-Mart, Citi Foundation, Honeywell and other U.S. private sector 
partners.  An additional partnership being awarded in September will 
expand into other climate change areas such as renewable energy and 
greenhouse gas accounting.  Guangdong Province is strategic in that 
it was the first province to open China's external trade and is now 
known as the "factory of the world."  The GOC has recently tasked 
province officials with meeting new carbon reducing performance 
targets and these officials have been keen to form a strong 
partnership with USAID. 
 
¶15.  RDMA will continue to explore opportunities for establishing 
linkages with a wide range of key institutions and research centers 
across the region, such as: The Energy and Resources Institute 
(TERI) in India; the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies 
(IGES) in Japan; Clean Air Initiative-Asia (CAI-Asia) in Manila; the 
Manila Observatory; Stockholm Environment Institute-Asia (SEI-Asia) 
in Bangkok; the Asia-Pacific network on Climate Change (AP-Net) in 
Tokyo; the Global Change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training 
(START) Regional Center in Bangkok; the Center for International 
Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor; the International Union for 
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Asia Regional Office in Bangkok; the 
Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Secretariat in Jakarta; the Asian 
Development Bank's (ADB's) Greater Mekong Subregion Environment 
Operations Center in Bangkok; the Asian Institute of Technology 
(AIT) in Bangkok; the ASEAN University Network, in Bangkok; the 
 
BANGKOK 00002046  007.2 OF 008 
 
 
Mekong River Commission (MRC) in Vientiane; the International Centre 
for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu; the World 
Wildlife Fund (WWF) Greater Mekong Program in Bangkok; the Asian 
Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) in Bangkok; and potentially many 
others. 
 
-------------------------- 
ARC Feasibility Assessment 
-------------------------- 
 
¶16.  RDMA expects to expend approximately $800,000 in FY 2009 
program funds to support the development of the ARC.  It is in the 
final stages of preparing to conduct a six month feasibility 
assessment starting in October 2009 to explore options for 
establishing the ARC during 2010.  A request for quotations has been 
issued, and RDMA expects to award a contract next month.  The 
assessment team is expected to conduct desktop research and 
analysis; hold consultations, group meetings, and workshops with key 
organizations and stakeholders in Washington and the Asia-Pacific 
region; prepare an Assessment Report summarizing the findings 
related to the areas described above; and prepare recommended 
revisions to the ARC Concept Note.  The final Assessment Report will 
make recommendations regarding the ARC's core functions (including 
research, knowledge-sharing, innovation, and related functions); 
organization and management; and launch and operationalization. 
RDMA and its assessment team intend to work closely with USAID/W, 
State, and other USG agencies throughout the assessment. 
 
-------------- 
Action Request 
-------------- 
 
¶17.  In preparation for the forthcoming feasibility assessment, Post 
requests that the Department ask posts in EAP and the relevant SCA 
posts (info addressees in this cable) to provide key points of 
contact of leading technical and research institutions, 
universities, think tanks, bilateral donors, and other partners who 
are likely to play an important role in partnership with the ARC. 
Please provide point of contact information including name, title, 
organization, address/location, telephone, email, and web address, 
if applicable, as well as a sentence summarizing the role of the 
institution in addressing climate change and development 
domestically or regionally.  Post would appreciate submission of 
information by info addressees by September 18 to Corina Warfield at 
RDMA, cwarfield@usaid.gov, with a copy to ESTH Hub officer Hal 
 
BANGKOK 00002046  008.2 OF 008 
 
 
Howard, howardhh@state.gov.  Post apologizes for the time 
requirement that sending this information will entail, but will 
provide the compiled organization data to USAID and the Department 
for overall USG coordination of foreign assistance and 
collaboration. 
 
JOHN