SINGAPORE is less vulnerable than other major Asian cities to the impacts of climate change, but that is mainly from having enough resources to adapt, according to a new World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report released this week.
Singapore remains susceptible to higher temperatures, increased rainfall, coastal inundation and food-security issues as it relies on neighbouring countries for food, said the report, Mega-Stress for Mega-Cities', which examines 11 Asian cities based on previously published data.
'Adaptation should not replace mitigation (in Singapore), but instead work in tandem with it,' said the report, which graded cities on factors such as their exposure to storms, sea-level rise and drought, the population and assets at risk from climate change, and their ability to adapt.
For example, the large, relatively poor city of Dhaka in Bangladesh is rated most vulnerable - its 13 million residents are at risk from floods and storm surges. And in Phnom Penh, which has 14 per cent of Cambodia's population but contributes 28 per cent of its gross domestic product, heavy rainfall threatens rice crops and tourism.
Cities and urban areas worldwide are economically vital, house half the world's population and produce three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The WWF hopes the report will galvanise Asian governments to cooperate on adaptation measures, said WWF Singapore managing director Amy Ho, who added: "It's not just the proportion of global emissions that one country contributes. Every country, big or small, has to do its part.'
No comments:
Post a Comment