Only 'narrow window' remains to cope with rising climate disasters in Asia: UN report
The onset of climate-linked disasters increase with rising temperatures. (Photo: iStock/niuniu)
BANGKOK: Disasters induced by climate change pose a more serious threat to the Asia-Pacific region than previously documented, according to a new United Nations report, prompting urgent calls to build resilience.
The Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2023 - released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on Tuesday (Jul 25) - found that future annual losses in the region could reach close to US$1 trillion if global warming reached 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial measures.
Preventing that level of temperature rise is central to global efforts tackling climate change. But the scenario is not far-fetched with the planet expected to cross the 1.5 degree threshold within the next five years.
With continued warming, the region will not be able to adapt fast enough to the changing climate and the more frequent and intense floods, tropical cyclones, heatwaves and droughts that result.
“As temperatures continue to rise, new disaster hotspots are emerging and existing ones are intensifying. A disaster emergency is underway and we must fundamentally transform our approach to building resilience,” Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP’s executive secretary said in a news release.
“The region has a narrow window of opportunity to increase resilience,” she said.
The Asia Pacific is already the most disaster prone region in the world, and 2022 was no exception. Some 140 separate disasters impacted the region, causing more than 7,500 deaths, affecting 64 million people and causing economic damage estimated at US$57 billion, according to the report.
The projected future is much worse, with a “riskscape of complex, compound and cascading disasters” emerging. Due to climate change, inequalities in the region are set to deepen and economic productivity to tank.
At just 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, 85 per cent of the region’s population will be exposed to multi-hazard risks, which would impact food production and energy security.
Enhancing nature-based solutions, like protecting and strengthening mangrove forests and coral reefs, as well as improving early warning systems and stronger social protections for vulnerable members of society are raised as key areas for governments and stakeholders to focus on.
Such warning systems to shield specific critical industries like agriculture and energy could decrease disaster losses by up to 60 per cent, the report found.
The report calls for urgent investment in systems to better identify risk hotspots - the groups of people most likely to be impacted by future disasters - and come up with early action plans.
Building a resilient future - labelled “transformative adaptation” in the report - comes at a steep cost at US$144.74 billion across the region, and for Southeast Asia nearly 1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
However, the report emphasises that the cost of inaction will be much higher.
Loss and damage - the notion that developed nations responsible for climate change should provide financial assistance to nations suffering the worst impacts - remains high on the international agenda and funding mechanisms being negotiated could assist with some climate-response budget shortfalls.
