The East Asia and Pacific region, home to about 2 billion people, has come a long way in its fight against poverty. The proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day was cut by 70 percent between 1990 and 2005. Much of this decline was in China, where 475 million people were lifted from poverty through remarkable growth.

The dominant challenge in the region is to balance growth and mitigation measures that would put the region on a less perilous trajectory. The WDR 2010 cites examples of strong action to combat climate change in the region. The climate is ripe for change.

Tackling climate change through innovation is a priority in East Asia and the Pacific because of several acute climate change factors and vulnerabilities:

Growing demand for energy. The demand for energy will continue to increase with further economic development. In East Asia and the Pacific, most countries need massive expansions in energy, transport, urban systems and agricultural production. Sustaining growth using current high-carbon technologies will produce more greenhouse gases, hence more climate change.

Changes in land use and deforestation. Land-use changes represent 34 percent of the region's greenhouse gas emissions, followed by electricity and other power, industry, and agriculture. In Indonesia, logging, forest fires and peatland degradation is thought to contribute more than 80 percent of the country’s CO2 emissions (WRI, 2007)—although the magnitude of Indonesia’s emissions is subject to uncertainty and yearly fluctuations. Deforestation across the region as a whole is being partly offset by high levels of reforestation in China.

Vulnerable coastal populations. Over half the countries in the region are Pacific Island nations. A large number of people live along the coast and on low-lying islands—for example, over 130 million people in China, roughly 40 million in Vietnam, and around 2 million Pacific Islanders. Rising sea levels coupled with the subsidence or sinking of delta land threaten coastal areas throughout the region.

Back to top

 

Water availability, floods and disease. Climate change is expected to threaten water availability for 270 million people in western China. Extreme events (floods and droughts) are expected to increase, and natural habitats will be at risk.

A typhoon transformed this road in Hanoi into a river in 2008. The Philippines experienced catastrophic flooding the following year.

As pressures on land, water, and forest resources increase—as a result of population growth, urbanization, and environmental degradation caused by rapid industrialization—greater variability and extremes will complicate their management. In the Mekong River basin, for example, the rainy season may see more intense precipitation, while the dry season may lengthen by two months (Snidvonds et al., 2003).

Economic impact. Agriculture, one of the sectors most at risk, contributes about 13 percent to the region’s GDP, but as much as a third in some countries. Around 60 percent of the population lives in rural areas and some 50 percent of the land is dedicated to agriculture. Severe droughts, flooding and land degradation are expected to reduce productivity. Substantial decreases in cereal production are expected as a consequence of climate change in Asia over the next decades. Net cereal production is projected to decline by at least 4–10 percent under the most conservative climate change projections by 2100 and up to 40 percent in some of the key grain producing zones (IPCC, 2007).

Off the coast, the value of well-managed coral reefs is about $13 billion in Southeast Asia. The reefs, already stressed by industrial pollution, coastal development, over-fishing, and runoff of agricultural pesticides and nutrients, are highly vulnerable to increases in sea temperature that cause bleaching. Coastal areas, fisheries and marine resources are particularly vulnerable with important impacts on food security and livelihoods.

Back to top