Climate change will cut South Asia’s growth by almost 9 percent by the end of the century unless world governments try harder to counter global warming, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Aug. 19.
The region is home to a fifth of the world’s population and it is already vulnerable to climate extremes: seasonal floods, cyclones and droughts that ravage vast swathes of agricultural land and displace hundreds of thousands of people every year.
Those countries, excluding Sri Lanka, will see more frequent severe weather, damaging property, infrastructure, agriculture and human health, the ADB said. Between 1990 and 2008, more than 750 million people in South Asia were affected by at least one natural disaster, resulting in almost 230,000 deaths, it said.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
The cost of shielding the region against climate change could be lowered if the world’s governments significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions and, if the rise in global temperatures was kept below 2.5 degrees Celsius, that cost could be nearly halved to about US$40.6 billion, or 0.48 percent of GDP, it said.
South Asia also needs to introduce flood and saline-resistant crop varieties, better coastal zone management, improved disease surveillance, protection of groundwater and greater use of recycled water.
(Reuters)
亞洲開發銀行八月十九日指出，氣候變遷將會在本世紀末削減南亞近乎百分之九的成長，除非世界各國政府更努力對抗全球暖化。
此地區是世界五分之一人口的家園，對極端氣候已非常敏感脆弱：蹂躪大片農地的季節性洪水、氣旋，以及乾旱，每年使得數十萬人無家可歸。
亞洲開發銀行說，除了斯里蘭卡之外，嚴峻氣候將會在南亞國家日益常見，損害財產、基礎建設、農業及人類健康。它說，一九九０年到二００八年間，南亞超過七億五千萬人至少受到一個天然災害影響，導致二十三萬人死亡。
亞洲開發銀行表示，如果各國政府有效減少溫室氣體排放量，並且讓全球氣溫升高幅度維持在低於攝氏二點五度，保護南亞對抗氣候變遷的成本可能會降低，有可能減半至約四百零六億美元，也就是南亞國內生產總值的百分之零點四八。
南亞也需要引進抗洪水與鹽水的農作物，更好的海岸區域管理，改善疾病監控，保護地下水並更妥善利用回收水。
（路透／翻譯：顧佳欣）
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