Posted
on 12 November 2009 - Hong Kong – Dhaka,
Manila and Jakarta are topping a WWF ranking
of the climate vulnerability of 11 major
cities in Asia.
As Heads of States gather
in Singapore for the APEC summit, WWF says
that developed and developing countries
must cooperate to prepare these cities for
a brutal climate future, highlighting that
their vulnerability is yet another compelling
reason for a fair, ambitious and binding
deal at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in
December.
According to Mega-Stress
For Mega-Cities, many of the cities analyzed
are extremely exposed to threats such as
storms and flooding, while huge numbers
of people and assets at stake result in
worrying levels of socio-economic sensitivity.
At the same time, the cities often lack
capacity to protect themselves from devastating
impacts.
“Climate change is already
shattering cities across developing Asia
and will be even more brutal in the future”,
said Kim Carstensen, Leader of the WWF Global
Climate Initiative. “These cities are vulnerable
and need urgent help to adapt, in order
to protect the lives of millions of citizens,
a massive amount of assets, and their large
contributions to the national GDP.”
“The APEC summit this
week in Singapore provides an opportunity
to exploit the true win-win potential offered
by low carbon growth strategies for countries
in the Asia Pacific region, with benefits
for both the economy and the climate.”
The WWF report covers
11 urban centers across Asia, all located
in coastal areas or river deltas. Following
Dhaka (9 out of 10 possible vulnerability
points), other cities at high risk are Manila
and Jakarta (8 each), Calcutta and Phnom
Penh (7 each), Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai
(6 each), Bangkok (5), and Kuala Lumpur,
Hong Kong and Singapore (4 each).
“Asia is urbanizing
rapidly, and we can be certain that urban
areas will be crucial battlegrounds in the
fight against climate change”, said Carstensen.
“Cities are responsible
for most of the world’s energy consumption
and greenhouse gas emissions, but they are
also pioneers when it comes to developing
innovative solutions. We can’t afford to
surrender them to climate change. Instead,
we must empower them to become change agents
and protect both rural and urban areas from
devastating impacts.”
The report also includes
rankings for sub-categories such as environmental
exposure, socio-economic sensitivity and
adaptive capacity. Poorer cities often lack
sufficient adaptive capacity and generally
rank higher in terms of their overall vulnerability.
“Leaders in hotspots of danger like Dhaka,
Manila or Jakarta need urgent support from
their counterparts in the industrialized
world. Effective near-term and long-term
adaptation will depend on financial support,
technology cooperation, and capacity building”,
said Carstensen.
According to WWF, this
week’s APEC summit in Singapore provides
leaders from developed and developing countries
around the Pacific with a great opportunity
to boost cooperation on adaptation to climate
impacts as well as low carbon economic growth.
“Now we are only a couple
of weeks away from the Copenhagen Climate
Summit, but so far leaders have failed to
clear the way for success next month in
Denmark”, said Carstensen.
“APEC is the last chance
before Copenhagen for leaders from a number
of key countries to show that they really
want to protect the planet from climate
change.”
