JAKARTA: UN climate change negotiations getting underway in Mexico next week will result in increased financial flows and transfer of clean technologies to Southeast Asian countries, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda said today.
“Southeast Asian nations are acutely aware of their vulnerability to climate change impacts and are already taking positive steps to strengthen their resilience and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their development,” Kuroda said as quoted in a press release. "These measures must be enhanced with greater financial and technical support, irrespective of the formal outcomes of the Cancun talks.”
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) negotiations in Mexico aim to provide a successor to the Kyoto Protocol arrangements that end in 2012. Delegates are working toward a new global agreement that will include the use of market mechanisms, increased attention to emissions from deforestation and land-use change, technology transfer from rich to developing nations, and a new fund to help developing nations finance emission-reduction measures and prepare for the impacts of climate change.
With much of its population and infrastructure located in coastal and river delta areas, Southeast Asian countries have millions of citizens at great risk from the increased variability of precipitation, severe weather events, higher average temperature, sea level rise and other impacts predicted to get much worse in coming decades.
The region’s greenhouse gas emissions for the energy and transport sectors, though currently low, are expected to more than double by 2030. And aggressive economic development plans, sprawling megacities, and forest loss threaten to lock in patterns of increasing emissions as a by-product of the region’s development.
According to ADB, these cumulative impacts of climate change could slow economic development, causing economic losses of as much as $230 billion, or an equivalent of 6.7% of GDP, by 2100—more than twice the global average loss— endangering the livelihoods of millions of people.
In response, the region is moving quickly to counter this rising threat to their welfare. Decisive actions include Cambodia’s climate change adaptation strategy financed under the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience; Indonesia’s voluntary pledge to lower by 26% its national emissions by 2020 compared to current projections (or up to 41% with international financial support); Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s (PDR) efforts to ramp up its conservation efforts, financed in part by the Forest Investment Program; Thailand’s efforts to mainstream renewable energy and efficiency measures into its development path through aggressive incentives and targets; and Viet Nam’s national strategy of requiring every ministry, province and city to develop climate change action plans.
ADB is in the forefront of these efforts by assisting countries to integrate climate change adaptation and resilience measures into their development programs and policies by mobilizing finance, developing and disseminating knowledge, and enhancing partnerships through vehicles such as the Greater Mekong Subregion, the Coral Triangle Initiative, and the Global Environment Facility. Four countries in the region – Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Viet Nam – have successfully prepared clean technology investment plans to mobilize more than US$10 billion to enhance energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable transport. In particular, ADB is leveraging nearly $400 million from the Clean Technology Fund to scale up clean energy technologies in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2009, it approved a total of US$16.1 billion in financing operations through loans, grants, guarantees, a trade finance facilitation program, equity investments, and technical assistance projects. ADB also mobilized cofinancing amounting to US$3.2 billion. (NOM)
“Southeast Asian nations are acutely aware of their vulnerability to climate change impacts and are already taking positive steps to strengthen their resilience and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their development,” Kuroda said as quoted in a press release. "These measures must be enhanced with greater financial and technical support, irrespective of the formal outcomes of the Cancun talks.”
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) negotiations in Mexico aim to provide a successor to the Kyoto Protocol arrangements that end in 2012. Delegates are working toward a new global agreement that will include the use of market mechanisms, increased attention to emissions from deforestation and land-use change, technology transfer from rich to developing nations, and a new fund to help developing nations finance emission-reduction measures and prepare for the impacts of climate change.
With much of its population and infrastructure located in coastal and river delta areas, Southeast Asian countries have millions of citizens at great risk from the increased variability of precipitation, severe weather events, higher average temperature, sea level rise and other impacts predicted to get much worse in coming decades.
The region’s greenhouse gas emissions for the energy and transport sectors, though currently low, are expected to more than double by 2030. And aggressive economic development plans, sprawling megacities, and forest loss threaten to lock in patterns of increasing emissions as a by-product of the region’s development.
According to ADB, these cumulative impacts of climate change could slow economic development, causing economic losses of as much as $230 billion, or an equivalent of 6.7% of GDP, by 2100—more than twice the global average loss— endangering the livelihoods of millions of people.
In response, the region is moving quickly to counter this rising threat to their welfare. Decisive actions include Cambodia’s climate change adaptation strategy financed under the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience; Indonesia’s voluntary pledge to lower by 26% its national emissions by 2020 compared to current projections (or up to 41% with international financial support); Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s (PDR) efforts to ramp up its conservation efforts, financed in part by the Forest Investment Program; Thailand’s efforts to mainstream renewable energy and efficiency measures into its development path through aggressive incentives and targets; and Viet Nam’s national strategy of requiring every ministry, province and city to develop climate change action plans.
ADB is in the forefront of these efforts by assisting countries to integrate climate change adaptation and resilience measures into their development programs and policies by mobilizing finance, developing and disseminating knowledge, and enhancing partnerships through vehicles such as the Greater Mekong Subregion, the Coral Triangle Initiative, and the Global Environment Facility. Four countries in the region – Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Viet Nam – have successfully prepared clean technology investment plans to mobilize more than US$10 billion to enhance energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable transport. In particular, ADB is leveraging nearly $400 million from the Clean Technology Fund to scale up clean energy technologies in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2009, it approved a total of US$16.1 billion in financing operations through loans, grants, guarantees, a trade finance facilitation program, equity investments, and technical assistance projects. ADB also mobilized cofinancing amounting to US$3.2 billion. (NOM)
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