Asia is the most disaster-prone region in the world, according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Financially speaking, Asia has borne almost half the estimated global economic cost of all disasters, amounting to almost US$53 billion annually over the past 20 years. Direct losses from disasters in the region significantly outpaced growth in GDP. Harvest losses alone related to flooding in Southeast Asia have an estimated annual value of US$1 billion.

Lack of proper CCA-DRR policies will severely affect regional and global food security in the long run. If no action is taken, four countries—Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam—could suffer a loss equivalent to 6.7 percent of GDP annually by 2100, more than double the global average loss, according to the Asian Development Bank. This is an abrupt reversal for many economies across Asia, which have seen an average GDP rate of 6 percent increase every year since 2012.

China, for instance, has a booming economy. However, its poor rural areas are dealing with the brutal realities of climate change. Take Gansu, for example. A decade ago, the rainy season lasted from May to October with an average rainfall of 200 millimetres per year. This has dropped to 50 millimetres per year and lasts only two months. Across the country, climate change has also created water shortages and led to unstable supplies of water. If climate change adaptation strategies are not implemented, main crop production in China would be reduced by an average of about five to ten percent by 2030.

Regional cooperation across Asia is crucial to deal with climate change as countries are often simultaneously affected. Governments, for example, can ensure that their DRR and CCA work is consistent through regional platforms such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Also, by expanding their network of partnerships with organisations, and sharing information and knowledge along the way, governments and organisations can make better-informed decisions. With these kinds of measures in place, governments and organisations can work more effectively across regions.

Countries in Asia also need to seize the opportunity to negotiate collectively to secure the financial support they desperately need, from rich countries. They need to support Asia’s developing countries to enable them to protect their citizens against climate disasters. There is a unique opportunity to remember the devastation of Haiyan, and to pledge to the Green Climate Fund this December at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) international climate meeting.

Negotiators must also ensure that the process of developing the National Adaptation Plans – plans parties of the UNFCCC formulate to adapt to climate change – is undertaken in a transparent, accountable and participatory manner, with gender taken into account since women’s needs are often overlooked during emergency periods.

As complex as they are, these tasks need immediate action. After all those months of agreement, years of talks, and little progress, it is time governments make the right move so that Haiyan can remain the most devastating Typhoon in history.

The author is International Programme Director at Oxfam Hong Kong.