Climate change to severely impact CAREC region

ADB cautions it can lead to water scarcity, food insecurity, conflict

INCHEON:

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov said on Friday that climate change was expected to have severe impacts in the region covered by the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (Carec).

The grouping includes Central Asia, Mongolia, Pakistan, China and the South Caucasus.

He made the remarks at a press conference while launching a study titled “Carec 2030: Supporting Regional Actions to Address Climate Change” on the sidelines of the 56th ADB annual meeting.

Zhukov urged Central and West Asia and neighbouring countries to address the increasingly severe impact of climate change that could lead to water scarcity, food insecurity, and even conflict in the region. Carec 2030 is a study on climate challenges and opportunities in member countries of the regional cooperation framework.

According to the report, year 2022 witnessed particularly dramatic and deadly examples of the impact of climate change in the region, including the devastating floods in Pakistan, punishing droughts in Afghanistan and China, days and even weeks of excessive heat, and cross-border conflict over scarce water resources in Central Asia.

“The recent, intense weather events in Central and West Asia show that we need to take urgent collective action,” Zhukov said.

“Countries in the region must work together to cut greenhouse gas emissions, ramp up climate resilience and manage precious, shared natural resources for the betterment of all.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2023.

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