Climate change measures 'crucial for Asia-Pacific'

Rachel O'brien Yahoo News 29 Sep 09;

BANGKOK (AFP) – UN experts warned on Tuesday that Asia-Pacific nations and other developing countries need support to combat climate change as they face an intensification of extreme weather such as the Philippine floods.

The comments came as a divide between rich and poor nations continued to dominate crucial negotiations in Bangkok to develop a new climate treaty before world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December.

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said one of the "key elements" of a deal was increased support for developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere to step up efforts to deal with the effects of climate change.

"Typhoons, floods and extreme weather events regularly make headlines in this part of the world," de Boer told reporters.

De Boer said the devastation in the Philippines was "the most recent tragic example" of climate change affecting the region, as the death toll reached 240, with the same storm, Ketsana, also killing 22 people in Vietnam.

"The impacts are likely to become more intense over time. Dealing with emergency situations, reducing disaster risks and increasing the climate resilience is a necessity for this region," he added.

Indonesia became the latest country to announce plans for a cut in greenhouse gas emissions, saying it would cut them by more than a quarter.

Campaigners have applauded recent encouraging announcements on climate change from Asian countries including China, India and Japan, which has pledged to reduce emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

Developed nations admit a historical responsibility for global warming but say developing countries should also pledge to curb their output, while emerging economies have called on rich nations to make higher cuts.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made the pledge in a speech at a working lunch during the G20 summit in Pittsburgh on September 25 but it was only made public at the negotiations in the Thai capital, an Indonesian delegate said.

Indonesia remains one of the leading forest destroyers, with emissions from the clearing of rainforests and peatlands making it the world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, according to some estimates.

"We just want to tell the world that although the obligation is mainly, most of it, on developed countries, Indonesia as victims of climate change would like to do something to prevent it from worsening," senior delegate Agus Purnomo said.

In Yudhoyono's speech, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, the president said Indonesia had decided on a national climate change action plan "that will reduce our emissions by 26 percent by 2020 from BAU (Business As Usual)."

With international support Indonesia could reduce emissions by as much as 41 percent, Yudhoyono said.

UN Under-Secretary General Noeleen Heyzer said the Asia-Pacific region had experienced 80 percent of global casualties related to extreme weather events over the last seven years.

"Climate change is likely to increase both the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events as well as the number of related casualties," she told the briefing.

Heyzer, also chief of the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, said most developing countries in the region faced two inter-linked challenges: combating poverty and overcoming climate change.

"Failure to tackle one will undermine efforts to deal with the other," she said. The transition towards a low carbon economy was already happening in the region but still required "massive investments," she added.

The Bangkok talks are the second-to-last negotiating session before Copenhagen, the last chance to sign a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Meanwhile conservation group WWF International released a survey saying that leading investors showed "significant support" for a scheme that would reward nations for saving their forests in any deal on global warming.

Asia-Pacific at risk if climate change ignored: ADB
Martin Petty, Reuters 30 Sep 09;

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific countries face food and energy shortages, worsening poverty and declining crop yields if they ignore climate change, according to studies released on Wednesday.

The region will suffer major social and economic changes if countries fail to adopt new practices -- from liberalizing trade to introducing better quality seeds for crops -- according to separate reports by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), on agriculture, migration and energy.

Under some scenarios, food prices could shoot up as much as 70 percent in the next 40 years as crop yields shrink, leading to a rise in malnutrition in some Asian countries, the ADB said.

"The combination of poverty in rural areas and the expected impacts of climate change and its remaining uncertainty will require careful planning...," the Manila-based ADB said.

"Targeted climate change investments and more flexible decision-making will be necessary to make the most of scarce budgetary resources," it added.

The report warned that the countries where poverty was rife such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal were most at risk and least likely to respond to, or handle, the pressures of climate change.

It recommended new initiatives to reduce the chance of an agricultural disaster. These include trade liberalization, more state subsidies, distribution of improved seeds and being better prepared for environmental problems from land degradation to wetter and drier seasons.

'WORRYING PICTURE'

Without changes in farming practices, prices would rise significantly in line with diminished agricultural yields, the ADB forecast. Rice output could fall 25 percent, wheat and maize by 40 percent, causing prices to rise by 40-70 percent in the next 40 years.

"This significantly negative impact of climate change on agriculture paints a very worrying picture," said Mark Rosengrant of the International Food Policy Research Institute.

"It will worsen existing problems, adding to high malnutrition and the poor will be the most adversely affected."

The ADB report coincided with the release of a study by the World Bank on Wednesday that estimated developing countries would need up to $100 billion annually for the next 40 years to adapt to a two-degree increase in temperature.

The ADB's study also highlighted concerns about energy security, emphasizing that investment and financial support were required to steer poorer countries toward alternative energy sources and lessen dependence on fossil fuels.

"The region is well endowed with clean energy sources but faces constraints in developing them," it said.

"International financial support is essential but has been completely inadequate. The flow of financing from the developed world...is of paramount importance."

The report also highlighted potential problems of migration, internal and external, and warned about the dangers of people continuing to flock to coastal cities likely to be affected by rising sea levels.

Experts said plans needed to be drawn up to manage migration movements, with greater cooperation between neighboring countries and development of urban centers to ease pressure on swelling coastal cities such as Bangkok and Shanghai.

"We need to look at this with seriousness because of growing numbers of people moving into areas vulnerable to climate-induced impacts," said Robert Dobias, a senior ADB climate change advisor. "It's a very worrying trend."

(Editing by Jason Szep and Sanjeev Miglani)