Responding to Climate Change in Asia

More than 190 countries were invited to in Bali, Indonesia, 3-14 December 2007 for the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference* organized by the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This Conference of the Parties to the Convention also serves as a Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and it is used to review progress under both instruments. The first week’s segment is preparatory, with a high-level segment during the final three days, from 12-14 December 2008.

The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (2007)* indicates that projected impacts of climate change are generally adverse and in Asia, the effects are profound and widespread. Moreover, considering that about 70% of Asia's energy needs [PDF] are dependent on fossil fuels-mostly from coal – the environmental damage is expected to worsen.

A principal output of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali is the “Bali Roadmap”, to define the path to a new global climate change regime to succeed that defined under the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

A key element is a timetable leading to a new agreement in late 2009, when the Conference will convene in Copenhagen.

Key issues discussed in Bali as a basis for moving forward include:

establishment of an Adaptation Fund
treatment of “Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation,”
the extent to which the global carbon market (flexible mechanisms) will be used in the new regime
promotion of technology transfer
and global limits on greenhouse gas emissions – backed by national commitments.

Conference participants will also receive a briefing from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which, together with former US Vice-President Al Gore, was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to document and publicize the economic, social and environmental threats from climate change and their causes.

Melting Ice - a Hot Topic

The United Nations Environment Programme's slogan for this year's World Environment Day, celebrated on 5 June each year, is "Melting Ice - a Hot Topic?" In support of the International Polar Year 2007-2008, this year's theme focuses on the effects of climate change on polar ecosystems and communities, and the changes it creates in the global environment.

Asia is not spared from the impacts of glacial melt due to climate change. The Himalayan glaciers, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)*, will be affected. These glaciers store more ice than anywhere else on Earth except the polar regions and Alaska. The steady flow of water from the melting Himalayan icepacks fills seven of the mightiest rivers of Asia-Yangtze, Mekong, Yellow, Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, and Salween.

However, because of global warming and extreme changes in the monsoon and trade winds, the glaciers are receding at an alarming rate threatening to disappear within one or two generations. As the glaciers recede, short-term impacts include the rising of lakes and rivers that can cause floods, landslides and mudflows. Eventually, the IPCC predicts, this will be followed by decreased river flows that could eventually affect the water supply to hundreds of millions of people in Asia.

With compelling scientific evidence that climate change is a serious and urgent issue, the international community has been calling for drastic measures that would significantly reduce and stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. ADB is responding to the urgent call by supporting the necessary transition towards a low-carbon economy through various measures.

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