Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific 

Published by Australia's CSIRO, this 92-page consultancy report was prepared for the Climate Change and Development Roundtable and was written by Drs Benjamin Preston, Ramasamy Suppiah, Ian Macadam and Janice Bathols. It outlines the impacts and risks of climate change in Asia and the Pacific. The Asia/Pacific region encompasses some of the planet’s greatest cultural, economic, and ecological diversity. Approximately 60 per cent of the world’s population resides in the region, in communities ranging from major urban centres to remote rural communities. The collective economic activity of the region represents roughly 25 per cent of the global domestic product. Rapid growth in large regional economies such as China and India has elevated human prosperity.

However, unless ultimately decoupled from fossil fuel use, such growth also threatens to exacerbate the climate challenge. Furthermore, many of the countries within the Asia/Pacific region are developing nations, still struggling to tap into the global economic market and with little climate footprint. This means low performance in development indicators such as economic diversification, literacy, per capita income, and access to basic food and water security.

Meanwhile, ongoing environmental degradation is eroding the valuable goods and services of the region’s natural ecosystems. To combat these disadvantages, significant development assistance flows into the Asia/Pacific region on an annual basis. Australia contributed over A$1 billion in aid to Asia/Pacific nations in 2004/05. These socioeconomic circumstances form the human and environmental context in which climate change and its consequences will be experienced.

http://www.csiro.au/resources/pfkd.html