KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, December 2, 2008 (ENS) – Ministers from more than 40 Asia-Pacific countries gathered in Kuala Lumpur today seeking ways to reduce the social and financial impact of natural disasters in the region – many of them linked to the rising global temperature. The ministers are developing regional cooperation systems for disaster preparedness and early warning systems.

The Asia-Pacific ministers are meeting as half-way across the world in Poznan, Poland some 11,000 participants in the annual UN climate conference are negotiating an agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions that will kick in when the current Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Most natural disasters today are linked to climate change, says John Holmes, UN emergency relief coordinator and head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.

OCHA today launched a campaign to raise awareness of the humanitarian implications of climate change, calling for improved disaster preparedness and response measures in countries that suffer most from extreme weather events.

“This campaign highlights our huge concerns about the humanitarian impact of climate change,” said Holmes. “Any credible vision of the future must recognize that humanitarian needs are increasing and that climate change is the main driver. We are already seeing its effects, in terms of the numbers of people affected and in the rising cost of response.”

“Improving our ability to respond effectively to increasing and increasingly extreme climatic events is now a priority part of our business. This calls for a systemic shift of attention, resources and expertise to improve disaster preparedness,” said Holmes.

From 1988 through 2007, over 75 percent of all disaster events were climate-related and accounted for 45 percent of deaths and 80 percent of the economic losses caused by natural hazards.

The most vulnerable are impoverished people living in risk-prone hotspot countries, where the risks from extreme climatic events overlap with human vulnerability

In 2007, OCHA issued an unprecedented 15 funding appeals for sudden natural disasters, five more than the previous annual record – all but one due to climatic events.

“So welcome to the ‘new normal’ of extreme weather. Climate change may well exacerbate chronic hunger and malnutrition across much of the developing world,” wrote Holmes in the current issue of “The Economist” magazine. “And it will almost certainly precipitate battles over resources.”

Labutta is one of the hardest hit areas in
the Irrawaddy delta region of Myanmar.
Houses were blown apart by Cyclone
Nargis which hit the region on May 2,
2008 at wind speeds of up to 190 kph
(118 mph). (Photo courtesy IFRC)

Data from the Centre of Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters shows that this year alone, more than 230,000 people were killed and over 47 million affected by two major disasters in Asia – the earthquake in China and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

The Asia-Pacific region is not only one of the most populous in the world but also, by far, the most affected by disasters in terms of human and economic impacts, according to the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UNISDR.

Salvano Briceno, director of the UNISDR secretariat, views this ministerial conference as a forum to make disaster risk reduction a priority at the local level and to mobilize more resources for implementing disaster risk reduction policies, which are vital to development and poverty reduction.

“This is a unique opportunity to identify gaps and bring governments and civil society together to fill them,” he said.

Every dollar invested in disaster preparedness not only saves lives, but can also save between $4 and $7 in humanitarian relief and reconstruction costs after a disaster happens, head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific told the ministers. “With this level of returns, these investments may be some of the best bargains available,” said Noeleen Heyzer.

While some view climate change as a future threat, humanitarian relief workers are seeing its impact now.

In the last 20 years, the number of recorded disasters has doubled from about 200 to more than 400 per year. Disasters caused by floods are more frequent – up from about 50 in 1985 to more than 200 in 2005 – and floods damage larger areas than they did 20 years ago.

The worst floods in 10 years inundated Jakarta,
Indonesia Feburary 2, 2007. (Photo by
A. Imam Alka)

In a new report, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned today that disasters linked to climate change such as cyclones, flash floods and droughts are likely to have a serious impact on food production in Pacific island nations, and called for urgent measures to adapt to expected losses.

The report, “Climate Change and Food Security in Pacific Island Countries,” finds that development efforts in the islands have been constrained by disasters.

As a result, these countries appear to be in a “constant mode of recovery,” says the report, published jointly by FAO, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the University of the South Pacific.

“Climate projections for the Pacific island countries are bleak and indicate reduced food security, especially for households,” said Alexander Mueller, FAO assistant director-general.

“It is critical to build resilience of food systems to avoid enormous future economic losses in agriculture, fisheries and forestry,” he warned. “Countries will have to assess how vulnerable their food systems are and how they can adapt agriculture, forestry and fisheries to future climate-related disasters. There is a need to act urgently.”

While Pacific island countries have already committed to a number of global and regional agreements to tackle climate change, the report highlights the need for a more systematic approach, with national plans involving governments, the private sector and civil society.

Mueller said, “Integrating climate change adaptation into national policies, strategies, programs and budgets related to agriculture, forestry and fisheries should become a major priority.”

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LIMA, Peru, November 24, 2008 (ENS) – Leaders of the Asia-Pacific countries expressed their willingness to work together to “confront the challenge of climate change,” which they agreed “will be crucial to the wellbeing of future generations.”

At the close of their annual meeting Sunday in Lima, the heads of state and government belonging to the Asia-Pacific Economic Council, APEC, affirmed their support for “decisive and effective long term cooperation now, up to and beyond 2012 to address climate change” under the United Nations process.

The language in the final statement echoes that in proposals put forward by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

“All parties should, in keeping with the requirement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol and the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities,” actively conduct negotiations for the implementation of the “Bali Roadmap” and take effective policy measures in light of their respective conditions to mitigate climate change,” the Chinese president said in his proposal.

The APEC leaders statement supports “a global emission reduction goal” for heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that is the primary issue to be negotiatied through the UN process.

The next step in this process is a 12 day set of talks opening in Poland December 1. An agreement acceptable to all parties is to be finalized in Copenhagen in December 2009. The agreement will follow the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

“We also noted the declaration in this regard by the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit held in July this year,” the APEC leaders stated.

APEC leaders in an informal moment. U.S.
President George W. Bush, center with
blue tie, enjoys his last trip as president.
(Photo courtesy APEC)

On the surface, there appeared to be no measureable progress in climate change during the talks in Lima. But senior Japanese officials seemed pleased that the APEC leaders’ statement mentions the G-8 summit.

“It was not easy to include a clause on the G-8 summit in the declaration,” as China and many other fast-growing APEC economies are not part of the G-8 framework, one of the Japanese officials told the Kyoto News Service

At the G-8 Summit in July, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States sought to share the goal of at least halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with other major greenhouse gas emitters such as China and India.

Climate change is triggering natural disasters that are increasingly difficult to deal with by countries acting alone, the APEC leaders acknowledged.

“The frequency and intensity of natural disasters related to the distortion of climate patterns in the region is increasing and the location of, and growth of, cities and mega-cities in vulnerable areas increases the impact of catastrophic events,” they stated. “Improving risk reduction, disaster preparedness and management in the region is a critical human security issue facing the region.”

“We agreed that the challenges in this area are significant and growing in complexity and required greater international cooperation and coordination with the private sector, international organizations and nongovernment organizations,” the leaders stated.

Alleviating poverty is tougher with the added challenges of climate change and natural disasters, the APEC leaders said. “Reducing poverty is likely to become more difficult in those developing economies most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and related natural disasters.”

A concern related to climate change and natural disasters is food security, the leaders stated, saying, “We are deeply concerned about the impact that volatile global food prices, combined with food shortages in some developing economies, are having on our achievements in reducing poverty and lifting real incomes over the last decade. The poor are especially vulnerable to increases in food prices.”

The APEC leaders stressed not only the urgency of getting stalled World Trade Organization talks moving again, and also emphasized the potential of renewable energy development to move economies forward while fighting climate change.

“Conscious that access to adequate, reliable, clean and affordable energy resources is vital to sustaining economic prosperity in the region, we reaffirmed our commitment to supporting the energy needs of regional economies by promoting open energy markets and free energy trade and investment,” the leaders stated.

“Such markets are crucial to the development of renewable sources of energy and the dissemination of low emission energy technologies, including new and alternative energy resources and technologies,” they said, adding, “We encouraged our officials to promote such developments and urge them to pursue regional energy efficiencies and maximize the potential development of clean energy technology.”

U.S. President George W. Bush and Peruvian
President Alan Garcia at the APEC meeting
in Lima (Photo courtesy APEC)

The two-day APEC meeting in Lima was U.S. President George W. Bush’s last trip as president. He told the APEC leaders, to applause, that he has attended every APEC meeting held during the eight years of his presidency.

But while the other APEC leaders were focused on climate, natural disasters and renewable energy as well as recovery from the current global financial crisis, President Bush said little about these issues, preferring to emphasize the merits of democracy and free trade.

Bush said only, “Over the past eight years, we’ve taken measures to protect our people from terror and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We’ve responded to natural disasters. We’ve worked to prevent the spread of potential pandemic diseases like avian flu and SARS. We’ve worked to confront climate change and usher in a new age of clean energy.”

APEC consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

The APEC annual conference will be held next year in Singapore, followed by Japan in 2010, the United States in 2011 and Russia in 2012. In the Peruvian capital, Indonesia offered to host the summit in 2013.

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MADRID, Spain, May 5, 2008 (ENS) – Because the Asia-Pacific region is so vulnerable to climate change, the Asian Development Bank is establishing a new fund to help the region adapt to the expected devastating impact of global warming, bank officials announced at the opening of the organization’s 41st Annual Meeting in Madrid today.

The bank will provide an initial $40 million to the Climate Change Fund, which will be open for further contributions from countries, other development organizations, foundations, the private sector and other sources.

“The purpose of the fund is to facilitate greater investments in developing countries in Asia and the Pacific to address the causes and consequences of global warming,” said Werner Liepach, principal director of the Asian Development Bank’s Office of Cofinancing Operations.

“Money from the fund will be used to provide grant financing for technical assistance, investment projects, research and other activities, and we welcome interested parties to participate in the fund,” he said.

King Don Juan Carlos I of Spain, right,
joins ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda
onstage at the opening of bank’s 41st
Annual Meeting. (Photo courtesy ADB)

The Asian Development Bank is set for a change in the way it serves its developing member countries in a rapidly evolving and dynamic Asia-Pacific region, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said at the bank’s annual meeting today.

Kuroda said the bank is ready to help countries overcome the new challenge of rising food prices, which are threatening more than one billion people in the Asia-Pacific region alone.

Kuroda said high food prices could “seriously undermine the global fight against poverty and erode the gains of the past decades.”

Despite the troubling times for the world economy, there is reason to be optimistic about the future with many Asia-Pacific countries’ economies more dynamic and resilient than ever, Kuroda told about 3,000 leaders of government, the private sector, academe and civil society from around the world attending the meeting.

“Even in today’s uncertain global economic environment, Asia remains a strong and stable contributor to global growth, and a leader in poverty reduction,” he said.

The Climate Change Fund expands the resources available to address global warming from solely mitigation activities, such as clean energy and carbon financing, to a more holistic program that includes activities in mitigation and adaptation as well as financing projects.

“In addition to supporting transition to low-carbon economies and establishing climate resilient infrastructure, this fund will allow ADB to address the cross-cutting social vulnerability issues related to climate change such as changes in livelihood, resettlement, and health impacts,” said WooChong Um, director of the bank’s Energy, Transport and Water Division.

“Asian developing countries are now the fastest growing source of new greenhouse gas emissions and they will soon be the largest absolute source. This new fund will help us pool resources from around the world to invest here in Asia to help deal with this problem,” Um said.

The bank acknowledges scientific projections warning that some 1.2 billion people in the Asia-Pacific region could experience freshwater shortages by 2020, while crop yields in Central and South Asia could drop by half between now and 2050.

Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (left), and ADB
Managing Director General Rajat
Nag launch “Development Asia”
magazine today at the bank’s
annual meeting. (Photo
courtesy ADB)

Asia’s major coastal cities, including Bangkok, Thailand; Jakarta, Indonesia; Karachi, Pakistan; Manila, Philippines; Mumbai, India; and Shanghai, China are vulnerable to flooding.

Within this century, residents of the small island states of Tuvalu and the Maldives as well as costal Bangladesh may become “climate refugees.”

The Asian Development Bank has been working on climate change for more than a decade and bank officials say access to new investment financing mechanisms in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other low-carbon infrastructure is already available.

In addition, ADB officials announced Saturday that the bank has secured US$11.3 billion for the next four-year phase of its concessional development fund to fight poverty in the region.

The new contributions covering the period of 2009 to 2012 are 60 percent higher than donations to the Asian Development Fund in the previous period, bank officials said. The last replenishment of the fund, which covered 2005 to 2008, totaled $7 billion.

“The generous contribution of donor nations will help developing Asia-Pacific countries meet Millennium Development Goal targets, and bring better opportunities and a brighter future to people living in the region’s poorest nations,” said Kuroda.

The eight UN Millennium Development Goals, which range from halving extreme poverty to ensuring environmental sustainability by the target date of 2015, form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.

The Asian Development Fund, ADF, provides grants and low-interest loans to the Asia and Pacific’s poorest countries, which are home to some 400 million people living on less than $2 a day.

Roads, clean water and sanitation, electricity networks and other essential infrastructure are typical investments for the Asian Development Fund. The fund will continue to support the agriculture sector through the funding of irrigation systems, rural roads and rural finance mechanisms.

“ADF support is a major source of assistance for countries like Nepal, who are in urgent need of resources to help our poorest citizens,” said Nepal Finance Secretary Vidyadhar Mallik. “We appreciate the generosity of the international donor community in significantly increasing ADF resources, and successfully completing ADF negotiations.”

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda
opens the bank’s annual
meeting. (Photo courtesy
ADB)

“With child malnutrition still widespread in Asia, and the global food crisis threatening to reverse the gains nations have achieved in reducing poverty, support for rural infrastructure and rural finance is critically important,” Kuroda said.

A significant proportion of future ADF resources also is expected to provide support for climate change mitigation and other environmental measures.

Yet the performance of the Asian Development Bank is not perfect, as a recent audit of its operations in Afghanistan reveals.

An independent performance and financial audit of four technical assistance projects in Afghanistan conducted by A. F. Ferguson & Co. Chartered Accountants of Pakistan for the Integrity Division of the Office of the Auditor General of the Asian Development Bank and released in March shows four problems.

Eight, out of 10 wind monitoring towers procured, were not installed and water availability was not appropriately assessed at the feasibility stage for drip irrigation system at Wazir Akbar Khan Hills project, leading to failure of this project.

Showcase solar powered fountains at three roundabouts were not installed as part of another project.

Feasibility studies for three micro-hydro power units were supposed to be conducted as part of a third project. But two are still in the process of completion, whereas work on the third unit was never initiated and the microfinance component was not implemented, according to the audit.

Planned infrastructure including entry gates, guest house, health clinics and camp sites were not developed at Band-de-Amir National Park and the microfinance component was not implemented as part of a fourth project, the auditors found.

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