New Approach Needed to Halt Asia's Rapid Environmental Decline: Warns ADBPervasive environmental degradation in the Asia and Pacific region requires a new approach, warned the Asian Environment Outlook 2001 (AEO), released Monday by leading multilateral development agency, the Asian Development Bank in Beijing, Hong Kong, Washington DC. and Manila at the same time.The AEO provides in-depth analyses of environmental issues facing the region, as well as a workable framework to improve the environment and reduce poverty. According to the AEO, Asia's economic development over the past few decades has come at a high environmental cost. By 2020, over half of Asia's population is likely to live in cities, with the urban population tripling to over a billion from 360 million in 1990, further straining an already inadequate infrastructure for water supply, housing and sanitation. The region has already lost up to 90 percent of its original wildlife habitats to agriculture, infrastructure, deforestation and land degradation. One in three Asians lack access to safe drinking water within 200 meters of home, with South and Southeast Asia suffering the most. Meanwhile, air pollution is a major cause of respiratory ailments and premature death in several Asian cities. The region is expected to be the world's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions by 2015. The AEO said, "The poor, particularly children and women, suffer most from the accelerating urban and rural environmental degradation." Declining environmental quality and continued dependence on natural resources are constraining the economic growth that is needed to reduce poverty in the region over the next 20 years. According to the AEO, economic productivity and environmental improvements are not mutually exclusive, but can go hand-in-hand with significant improvements achieved at a low cost. The report asks policy makers and leaders in the region to learn that integrated solutions that transcend traditional disciplines and approaches are clearly more effective than parochial solutions that divide regions, institutions, infrastructure and technology. The AEO concludes that environmental and economic policies should guide sustainable development with a strong political will. The AEO 2001 is the first in a biennial series. It will be followed by background reports on various environmental themes and reports on issues facing individual countries. |
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