Source

The frequency of intense floods and storms is increasing globally and in Asia and the Pacific amid the specter of climate change, pointing to the need for better mitigation and adaptation to natural disasters.

The rainfall and temperatures associated with these events are becoming more variable and extreme, while the evidence suggests that coastal regions in South, Southeast, and East Asia are at greater risk.

Partnerships

Description

Faced with growing development challenges—especially external economic shocks, climate change, and natural disasters—several developing countries in Asia and the Pacific are unlikely to reach the non-income Millennium Development Goal targets by 2015. There is therefore a need for stronger action as well as for more resources from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Asian Development Fund (ADF), especially for the poorer countries. The ADF offers loans at very low interest rates and grants to help reduce poverty in ADB’s poorest member countries.

BANGKOK, THAILAND – Climate change will cause an upward surge in migration this century, and governments in disaster-prone Asia-Pacific nations must promptly enact a broad range of measures to stave off future humanitarian crises, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report released today.

Description

Date: 17 February 2012
Press Release No. G/06/2012

Asia-Pacific makes big gains against poverty, but slow to reduce hunger, child and maternal deaths

New Delhi (UNESCAP / UNDP) – The Asia-Pacific region has made big gains in reducing poverty and is moving fast towards other development goals, but still has high levels of hunger as well as child and maternal mortality, said a new report released here today.