BEIJING: To check the effects of climate change on Asia’s” liquid tower,” China has built weather stations on Cho Oyu, the sixth-highest mountain in the world on the Tibetan-Nepalese border. The Himalayas, which are home to the planet’s tallest mountains and the source of water for the river that hundredsContinue Reading
Rainfall over the country during June to September was 94 per cent of its long period average, the lowest since 2018, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement. The IMD had anticipated a rainfall deficit of 4 per cent for the season, assuming limited impact from El Nino.Continue Reading
At the same time, PWA said it has received a 24 per cent increase in the number of customers it is meant to service this year, due to the dry conditions.
“Some residents on Samui are not our customers; they use water from their own deep well or shallow well. But once the drought comes, we have to provide our services to all of them as well because their wells are dry,” Mr Prateep said.
There is unlikely to be any major relief to the situation soon. While September and October are the usual wet months on Koh Samui, the onset of El Niño climatic conditions is expected to result in warmer temperatures and less rainfall.
The onset of climate change could result in permanent changes to seasonal weather patterns and prolonged hotter periods, providing less certainty around local water availability.
“Regarding the El Nino effect, this year is just the beginning. But next year will be more serious,” he said.
While a second pipeline to Koh Samui is being planned, it will likely not be operational before 2025. And a proposal to upgrade pipelines on the island itself to improve water delivery – a lack of pressure means any highland areas cannot receive water at present – has a price tag of THB1.5 billion (US$42 million).
Mr Prateep said his team has also been ordered to repair a desalination plant on Koh Samui that remains out of working order.
Given it has not been operational for several years, it needs major repairs for which there is no budget approved. The plant is normally too expensive and energy intensive to run.
Another reservoir at Chaweng Beach that could feasibly help ease the burden on the water shortage situation cannot function due to saltwater intrusion.
“Actually the government has its master plan and each agency concerned is coordinating with each other but the budget of each agency is being allocated at different times, which makes it look like it’s a lack of collaboration between state agencies,” Mr Prateep said.
Authorities have resorted to cloud seeding operations to induce rain over the island in previous dry years. But the idea is generally dismissed even by those requesting it due to its unpredictability.
“It did not work well because the rain mostly missed the target as it dropped into the sea, not on the island,” he said.Continue Reading
Many of the world’s poorest countries are the least responsible for climate issues, but are bearing the brunt of the crisis. They are struggling to cope with natural disasters devastating infrastructure and livelihoods, and extreme temperatures affecting livestock and crops.
“Most of our developing member countries contribute virtually nothing to the climate problem. They are low emitters, per capita and national. However, they’re feeling the impacts,” he said.
“Helping them to move towards net zero is not about their commitment to low carbon but rather, energy security and better air quality in their cities.”
Where governments may have failed to act, Mr Evans is, however, optimistic about increasing interest from the private sector on investing in sustainable developments, green initiatives and climate-friendly adaptations.
“My optimism is not based on what governments are doing, but rather, based on what the private sector is doing,” he said.
“The interest of the private sector in working with us and with other multilateral development banks, to use the sovereign funding and the public sector money that we have, to help enable them to invest in climate actions, is making tremendous progress right now.”
The ADB has said the battle against climate change will be won or lost in Asia Pacific.
The region is home to 60 per cent of the global population – some 4.3 billion people, and includes the world’s top two most populous countries India and China.
It has five of the 10 largest emitters in the world – China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea – and accounts for about 45 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Asia Pacific is also where 40 per cent of the world’s climate-related disasters have happened since the start of the century, with increasing frequency and intensity.
Hence, the region plays a central role in global climate efforts.
The ADB said the battle against climate change will be costly, with an estimated US$1.7 trillion needed every year to invest in infrastructure in the region.
The bank recently launched a new funding programme to support lending efforts that help the region reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build infrastructure resilient to the impact of climate change.
Known as the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP), wealthier nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Japan and South Korea will guarantee some loans and shoulder losses in cases of default.
The initial target is US$3 billion in guarantees. The bank believes this will help to generate five times as much – some US$15 billion – in new climate loans.
“The IF-Cap works by taking guarantees from donor countries and using that to essentially carve out part of our existing sovereign portfolio. These are existing loans that developing countries take with ADB that have sovereign guarantees. We have a very, very low risk of default for these kinds of loans,” said Mr Evans.
The plan will support projects that address mitigation with a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation with an aim to build resilience against the impacts of climate change.
The bank said these investments could cover a wide range of sectors, such as transportation, energy, urban, and agriculture.
While the lender has made progress in multiple areas including increasing resilience to flooding, cooling efforts in cities with high temperatures, rehabilitating wetlands, promoting renewable energy including wind and solar, more needs to be done, said Mr Evans.
“We have in both the urban sector and rural sector, a number of initiatives that are paying back dividends now, in terms of building resilience. We have many success stories, but we’re not at the scale we need to be. We need to bring this all together and scale it up,” he said.
“The risks from climate impacts are severe. Every greenhouse gas emission reduced is important. Every household can play a role in that. Not so much in the poorer countries, but in the middle income countries, and in the richer countries, every household needs to play a role in reducing their carbon footprint.”
On Friday, the bank unveiled new capital reforms to boost lending by US$100 billion over the next decade as part of its continued mission to tackle climate change.
SINGAPORE: According to China’s top environment official, the phase-out of fossil fuels is not feasible and that they may continue to be essential to maintaining global energy security. In response to remarks made by ministers at a forum in Beijing on Thursday( Sept 21) in advance of the COP28 climateContinue Reading
Thailand’s eastern coast is being threatened by an unusually deep plankton bloom that is creating an watery” dead zone” and endangering the livelihood of local fishermen who raise mussels there. According to marine professionals, there are more than ten times as many algae as usual in some areas of theContinue Reading
“In terms of how climate change affects Hong Kongers, outdoor workers are at the frontlines,” he told AFP. Emily Chan, a public health specialist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, welcomed the guidelines but agreed more was needed. She pointed to mainland Chinese cities, including neighbouring tech hub Shenzhen,Continue Reading
Nearly the entire 2.4 square-kilometre island falls under Hat Chao Mai National Park, meaning authorities have a mandate to enforce an annual, seasonal closure period.
This began in Koh Kradan more than five years ago, and similar closures of national park areas happen right across Thailand during this time of year.
There is no permanent local community on the island, and all of the small resorts on the island are meant to cease operations during the seasonal closure and not bring in any tourists. When CNA visited, one resort remained open despite the decree, amid an ongoing land dispute.
As the island breathes, local officials from the Department of National Parks are making preparations for when it can reopen on Oct 1. A modern tourist centre has been constructed and management plans are being put in place to better organise increased arrivals and deal with waste.
“After it was selected (as the best beach), the number of tourists has increased a lot, which is a good opportunity to start over,” said Pharit Narasaridkul, the chief of Hat Chao Mai National Park.
“The increased number of tourists means that Trang province’s economy is better. There’s more spending in the economic sector, social sector and also in local areas. So, we consider this as a good opportunity for the local people to upgrade their quality of lives,” he said.
Closing the “world’s best beach” seems like a difficult decision to make, when the economic benefits of staying open could be lucrative for local communities.
Just as tourists have been drawn en masse to the white sands over the years, entrepreneurs, street vendors, gambling personalities and resort tycoons have ridden the same winds blowing into Boracay, chasing a slice of the earnings.
Aguirre-Graf, the former head of the Boracay Foundation – a non-profit charged with “sustaining the island’s environmental, business and social needs” – and an officer of the local hotel association, said that the island’s fabric will only be further damaged if the relentless pursuit of profit is allowed to run.
“We cannot only think about profit. We should also think about the future, how the island will survive if we keep on putting more buildings and bringing more people,” she said.
“The management of the garbage and preservation of our flora and fauna on the island is very important because there has to be balance.
“If we have to open it to mass tourism, again, we have to really impose strict regulations so that those things that happened before will not happen again.
“I’m sure there will be a way but we just have to install all the necessary infrastructure in order to sustain growth in Boracay. But sometimes you doubt your governments, you know,” she said.
Boracay faces a litany of challenges, including erosion on its White Beach, driven by rising sea levels and climate change, hundreds of sinkholes throughout the island caused by soil erosion and sustained leaking of water pipes and sewerage lines and the overall pursuit of sustainable and equitable development.
At the same time, the building of new hotels, resorts and restaurants is rapidly underway.
BANGKOK: Climate change might have stimulated a plankton bloom that caused thousands of dead fish to wash up along a 3 to 4km stretch of beach in Thailand’s southern Chumphon province, an expert said. Thon Thamrongnawasawat, deputy dean of the Faculty of Fisheries at Kasetsart University, attributed the fish deathsContinue Reading