Water

Salmah Zakaria on Adapting to Climate Change
“Climate change is real,” says Salmah Zakaria, Director General of the National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia, “and all our adaptive and mitigating measures cannot change the fact that it will have some adverse impacts in the next 30 years. But inaction is not an option.” Salmah says doing nothing to counter the impacts of climate change will cost more. Malaysia is now assessing its vulnerability and developing strategies to adapt to rising sea levels, hotter temperatures, extreme rainfalls, and other adverse impacts.

People’s Republic of China (PRC): Shanghai Prepares for Climate Change
Shanghai residents can’t imagine their bustling city being engulfed by seawaters. But city officials and local experts know that Shanghai’s race against global warming is on. Drastic adaptation measures are now being planned, from building water gates for preventing sea storms to erecting an ocean embankment along the coastal line. But will these effectively counter the effects of PRC’s unprecedented industrialization, which made it the world's second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases?

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Philippines: Solar Power, Water-Tech Wonder
What are the chances that a remote town of 1,000 people would boast of the first ever solar-powered, pre-paid water supply pumping and distribution system in the world? Not likely, but the municipality of Ronda is defying the odds. It uses sunshine to draw water from an underground river and asks customers to pay for water in advance using pre-paid cards. Ronda’s system has no harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and offers cheap and safe water to residents.

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Tuvalu: Tiny Tuvalu Fights for Survival
Rising sea levels due to climate change can wipe out Tuvalu in half a century. Instead of simply worrying, Tuvalu citizens are focusing on reducing harmful greenhouse gases to decelerate global warming, hoping that the international community would notice them before the Pacific Ocean engulfs their tiny island country. From constructing biogas digesters to community clean ups to composting and more—will these efforts be enough to turn the tide for Tuvalu?

ADB to Embark on Climate Change Research with Columbia University’s Earth Institute
This new research follows the premise that problems related to climate change can be addressed through strategic investments in climate risk management and efficient agricultural use of water. Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs will provide overall guidance. Expected to be completed in December 2008, the research will produce, among other things, a sustainable development strategy for water in Asia and a toolkit for water sector investment analysis in the region.

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ADB Gears Up for 3rd Southeast Asia Water Forum (3SEAWF)
Integrated water resources management will take center stage at the 3rd SEAWF on 22-26 October in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ADB will convene sessions on challenges confronting urban water management, innovative practices that emerged from these challenges, and champions who promote these innovations within the region and globally.

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Preparations for Water Financing Program Conference in Indonesia Underway
Government agencies in Indonesia’s water sector will define specific priority projects that can be supported by ADB in 2008–2010 in this follow-up to the 2006 conference on ADB’s Water Financing Program. Set in Bandung on 7-9 November, this in-country conference aims to help Indonesia boost its rural, urban, and river basin investments.

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City Governments to Push Sanitation Agenda
Local governments will have the chance to advance their sanitation agenda in an international seminar on sanitation jointly organized by ADB and CITYNET, an international network of local authorities promoting sustainable urban improvements in the Asia-Pacific. Scheduled on 15–16 November in Manila, Philippines, the seminar will develop sustainable sanitation mechanisms and approaches, and disseminate best practices for replication.

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River Basin Network Launches Workshop Series on Disaster Management
Water-related disasters often claim human lives, damage countries’ economies, and impact on water resources. The Network of Asian River Basin Organizations will organize a series of workshops on water-related disaster management, highlighting experiences sharing and action planning to mitigate these disasters' effects. The first workshop will be on 26-29 November 2007 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

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Asia's Growth Can Provide Economic, Social Benefits to All - Joint MDG Report
Is Asia on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals, especially the water supply and sanitation targets? A new report jointly released by ADB, UNDP, and UNESCAP launched on 8 October says providing safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, along with addressing the issues of child mortality, nutrition, and improving maternal health, are the region's greatest challenges. Download the report.

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ADB Seeks Funding to Strengthen Poverty Alleviation Efforts
Hope becomes brighter for Asia’s poorest countries as the first round of meetings to negotiate the replenishment of the Asian Development Fund (ADF) for 2009–2012 resulted in calls for intensified efforts to fight poverty. The ADF provides concessional assistance to countries expected to fall far short of the Millennium Development Goal targets on hunger, child mortality, and water and sanitation access, among others.

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People’s Republic of China: ADB To Help Clean Up Songhua River Basin
Efforts to clean up the widespread pollution in the Songhua river basin, the 3rd largest in the country, get a boost from the new $1.7 million ADB technical assistance (TA). The TA will help design a loan project to control and manage pollution in the basin and improve the urban environment and quality of life in the surrounding provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang.

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Lao PDR: Hydropower Project Improves Families' Standard of Living, Health
Comprehensive livelihood and resettlement programs for households affected by the much-monitored Nam Theun 2 hydropower project are showing early successful results. Twenty-seven year old mother Pheng, whose entire village was relocated and whose new house has electricity, safe water supply, and a toilet, says, “We have better living conditions than before. We even have a health center here now.”

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Solomon Islands: Rebuilding After the Tsunami
Thousands of people were left homeless and infrastructures were destroyed when a tsunami hit the Solomon Islands last April. ADB is partnering with the government on an Emergency Assistance Project and has approved a $4.95 million grant to rebuild roads, wharves, and bridges. ADB’s Robert Guild says, “The disaster revealed the importance of reducing vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change.”

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2. Our next issue will focus on rural water supply. What ongoing water reforms should we feature?