Asia must brace for extreme weather - ADB [February 09 2011]

Asia must prepare for millions of people to flee their homes to safer havens within countries and across borders as weather patterns ecome more extreme, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

A draft of an ADB report obtained by AFP recently and confirmed by bank officials, cautioned that failure to make preparations now for vast movements of people could lead to “humanitarian crises” in the coming decades.

Governments are currently focused on mitigating climate change blamed for the weather changes, but the report said they should start aying down policies and mechanisms to deal with the projected population shifts.

“What is clear is that Asia and the Pacific will be amongst the global regions most affected by the impacts of climate change,” said the report titled “Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific”.

“Such impacts include significant temperature increases, changing rainfall patterns, greater monsoon variability, sea-level rise, floods and more intense tropical cyclones,” it said.