The winds of change: A special on climate change in Asia
PUBLISHED ON AUG 30, 2014 7:15 AM
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Displaced families from Lebubunia village in Bangladesh affected by the floods in 2009 continue to live in huts. -- PHOTO:
ANN
Torrential rains recently left scores dead in Japan. Rising sea levels are destroying precious
farmland in Vietnam and Bangladesh while in Bhutan, otherwise scenic mountain lakes are
increasingly a menace. Ahead of a United Nations climate change summit next month, the
Asia News Network looks at how these disparate symptoms are already taking their toll on
countries in the region.
Vietnam: Rising sea levels pose salt threat
Pham Thi Ly buys fresh water every 10 days from a well operator in another commune
during the dry season.
To ensure her children have clean drinking water, she has to buy the bottled stuff. The dry
season typically runs for four months and this buying of water puts a dent into whatever she
earns from fishing.
But Mrs Ly has no choice - there is no fresh water to be had as the groundwater under the
Thua Duc Commune in Vietnam's southern Ben Tre province has become too salty for daily
use. Read more here >>
Bhutan: Farms face growing dangers
One of the most picturesque scenes from Bhutan is that of the snow-fed Phochu (male river)
and Mochu (female river) merging to form the Punatsangchu.
Thousands of padi farmers live in the fertile Punakha-Wangdue Phodrang valley, the rice
bowl of western Bhutan. The peaceful, rustic image it presents is postcard pretty, but it also
belies the rising dangers the villagers face as a result of warming temperatures. Read more
here >>
Bangladesh: Lashed by cyclones
Lebubunia village is a symbol of survival as it stands on the edge of a 3m-wide earthen wall
by the river Kobadak.
It is also a reminder of the threat Bangladesh faces as a result of climate change. In 2009, a
storm surge breached the embankment and swept away nearby houses. Mercifully, most of
the villagers found safety in nearby cyclone shelters, thanks to an early warning
system. Read more here >>
Snapshots from Malaysia, China and Pakistan
Mr Kevin Tan, a member of Kuala Lumpur's burgeoning middle class, dreamt that he would
see the day when he, his wife and his young son would have to endure months of dry taps in
the bustling metropolis.
His household was just one among millions affected by an unusual, three-month-long hot and
dry spell which struck parts of peninsular Malaysia in mid-January. Read more here >>
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Climate change: Rising sea levels pose salt threat in Vietnam
PUBLISHED ON AUG 30, 2014 7:05 AM
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Saline water renders farmlands in Vietnam very dry and useless. Salt concentrations in the groundwater have been measured
up to 3:1,000, far higher than Health Ministry guidelines which stipulate that salt concentration levels must be less than 0.3
per thousand to be safe for daily use. -- PHOTO: VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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BY THU VAN
HANOI - Pham Thi Ly buys fresh water every 10 days from a well operator in another
commune during the dry season.
To ensure her children have clean drinking water, she has to buy the bottled stuff. The dry
season typically runs for four months and this buying of water puts a dent into whatever she
earns from fishing.
But Mrs Ly has no choice - there is no fresh water to be had as the groundwater under the
Thua Duc Commune in Vietnam's southern Ben Tre province has become too salty for daily
use.
Mr Tran Thai Hoc, a commune official, said contamination goes back at least five years. Salt
concentrations in the groundwater have been measured up to 3:1,000, he said, far higher than
Health Ministry guidelines which stipulate that salt concentration levels must be less than 0.3
per thousand to be safe for daily use.
Scientists say rising sea levels, a fallout of climate change, endanger not only people who live
on the coasts but also those farther inland as salt water seeps into fresh water sources,
rendering them unfit for human use. That, in turn, has the potential to wreak havoc on
agriculture and the economy.
About 100,000ha of farmland in the Mekong delta, Vietnam's rice hub, have been affected by
saline water intrusion, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Vietnamese Mekong delta covers about 39,000km of fertile and alluvial plains and is
home to more than 18 million people. Groundwater is among the most important sources of
drinking water for millions of people, particularly those living in coastal areas.
According to Mr Nguyen Van Dong, director of southern Ha Giang province's Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development, salt water intrusion and drought in the delta are
threatening farm output. Rice crops die if the salt water concentration in padi fields rises too
high.
In some areas, salt water has intruded up to 60km upstream into local rivers. Desperate for
fresh water, poorer residents buy anything from well operators not minding whether the water
they buy is clean, as long as it is useable.
"This increases the chance of people getting diseases," said Mr Nguyen Quoc Thai, a doctor
from the Department of Infectious Disease at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi.
Saline water intrusion is not the only problem that many Vietnamese people face as climate
change takes its toll on the country.
The number of severe typhoons has been rising in recent years, while the storm season has
been ending later than before.
"The weather tends to be more extreme with storms appearing sooner, stronger every year. In
general, the intensity of the storms, measured by wind speed, is believed to have increased by
2 to 11 per cent," said Mr Nguyen Van Tue, head of the Department of Meteorology and
Climate Change under the Ministry of National Resources and Environment.
Official figures show that in the last 10 years, natural disasters have killed some 9,500 people
and caused damage equivalent to 1.5 per cent of the nation's gross domestic product.
In 2012, 10 storms claimed the lives of 258 people in Vietnam, while the damage wrought
amounted to 16 trillion dong (S$960 million).
Last year alone, natural calamities claimed the lives of 264 people, injured 800 and caused 25
trillion dong worth of damage. More than 12,000 houses were destroyed and over 300,000ha
of farmland devastated.
Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, who is also the head of the
country's Committee for Flood Prevention steering committee, says natural disasters have
become increasingly unpredictable and more extreme.
The National Strategy on Climate Change, which was issued by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung in 2011, categorised Vietnam as one of the countries most affected by climate change,
with its Mekong delta listed among the three deltas most vulnerable to rising sea levels
(alongside the Nile delta in Egypt and the Ganges delta in Bangladesh).
Mr Pham Anh Dung, a resident of a coastal town in southern Bac Lieu province, says he
knows little of the term "climate change", but is certain the weather is changing.
"In recent years, the weather has been so unpredictable. The sea level has come up so much
that many neighbours of mine are really scared about the possibility of the sea dam
breaking," he said.
"But even though we're quite scared, we can't go anywhere. Where can we go? We've been
living here and earning our living from the sea forever," he said.
The report, "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world", by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that about 22 million Vietnamese
people will lose their houses to rising sea levels.
"If the sea level rises 1m by 2100, 90 per cent of the Mekong delta will be flooded.
"Seventy per cent of its area will be intruded with saline water and two million hectares of
rice will disappear," said scientist Le Anh Tuan from the Institute for Climate Change Studies
at Can Tho University.
"Millions of people will become climate change refugees. Millions of people will fall into
poverty," the scientist said.
The UNDP report estimates the sea level will rise by 33cm by 2050 and 1m by 2100.
"Agriculture is the sector that is most affected by climate change, specifically by saline water
intrusion and sea level rise," said Mr Tran Thuc, director of the Viet Nam Institute of
Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment.
Fully aware of the serious damage climate change could do to the country's development, the
Vietnamese government is building new dams and other structures aimed at mitigating the
impact of rising sea levels and contamination of ground water.
New, sturdier varieties of rice, which cope better with cold snaps, have been provided to
farmers in northern Nam Dinh province, in the hope that they would withstand more extreme
weather conditions in the years ahead.
For people like Mrs Pham Thi Ly, what matters now is simply to have enough clean, fresh
water for their families to use and drink.
VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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Climate change: Bhutan farms face growing dangers
PUBLISHED ON AUG 30, 2014 7:05 AM
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A farmer’s house, just a few metres from the Punatsangchu river, falls within what is classified as the red zone, or high-risk
area. -- PHOTO: ASIA NEWS NETWORK
BY TASHI DEMA
THIMPHU - One of the most picturesque scenes from Bhutan is that of the snow-fed Phochu
(male river) and Mochu (female river) merging to form the Punatsangchu.
Thousands of padi farmers live in the fertile Punakha-Wangdue Phodrang valley, the rice
bowl of western Bhutan. The peaceful, rustic image it presents is postcard pretty, but it also
belies the rising dangers the villagers face as a result of warming temperatures.
Ms Tshering Zam, 49, a farmer from Tsokona on the left bank of the Punatsangchu, worries
each time it looks like rain.
The river, which feeds her crops, is a growing menace as it encroaches ever closer to her
traditional mud, stone and wood house each passing year. She stores her grains and other
valuables at her sister's house, which is located farther away from the river.
"My three sons and I sleep in our neighbour's house every time it rains," she said. Her house,
located just a few metres from the Punatsangchu river, falls within what is classified as the
red zone, or high-risk area.
Areas on both banks of the river have been categorised as red, yellow and blue zones (high,
medium and low risk) based on the degree of risk to lives, property and infrastructure.
Ms Tshering Zam has lived through several flash floods, including two from glacial lakes
bursting their banks. The most recent one in 1994 washed away five watermills, 16 yaks and
tonnes of grains and inundated large swathes of pastureland, she recalled.
"I remember how the slope there fell into the river," she said. "The volume of the river is
increasing every year."
Bhutan is highly vulnerable to what are known as GLOFs (glacial lake outburst floods) as
glacial ice melts. Of its 2,794 glacial lakes, 25 have been identified as potentially dangerous.
But flooding is not the only threat to farmers in the area.
Erratic rainfall and rising temperatures are also hurting Bhutanese, almost 70 per cent of
whom live in villages and depend on subsistence agriculture for a living.
As temperatures rise, farmers like Ms Tshering Zam's neighbour Pasa Bidha, 55, say they are
having to fight a drastic increase in pest infestation of their crops of chillies, beans and
tomatoes.
Meanwhile, landslides and flash floods take a toll on roads and other infrastructure.
But one of the biggest concerns is Bhutan's heavy dependence on hydro-power for revenue
and jobs. The country's three major hydro-power projects of Kurichhu, Chukha and Tala have
a capacity to generate about 1,400MW of power. Thousands of people are employed in this
sector and heavy investment is being made to step up production to 10,000MW by 2020.
Bhutan hopes to sell more hydro-power to fuel economic growth but climate change poses a
multi-faceted danger to this goal. There is the threat of increased flooding as glaciers melt. At
the same time, Bhutan is also vulnerable to water shortages as weather and snowfall patterns
grow more erratic and disruptive.
GLOFs and landslides could also damage hydro-power plants.
In the meantime, officials are keeping a close watch on the lakes and doing the best to drain
the water from them.
People living along the Punatsangchu are also depending on GLOF early warning systems
installed along the riverbanks.
Sirens are supposed to go off should a lake burst its banks upstream, giving people living
downstream time to evacuate.
As for Ms Tshering Zam and her sons, it took three years to get the paperwork done for an
alternative plot of government land on safer ground but, in time, it will mean not having to
fear every time it threatens to rain.
KUENSEL/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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Climate change: Bangladesh lashed by cyclones
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Lebubunia village in Bangladesh has been rebuilt on the edge of a 3m-wide earthen embankment by the river Kobadak with
huts made from bamboo to protect residents from saline water. -- PHOTO: ASIA NEWS NETWORK
BY PINAKI ROY
DHAKA - Lebubunia village is a symbol of survival as it stands on the edge of a 3m-wide
earthen wall by the river Kobadak.
It is also a reminder of the threat Bangladesh faces as a result of climate change. In 2009, a
storm surge breached the embankment and swept away nearby houses. Mercifully, most of
the villagers found safety in nearby cyclone shelters, thanks to an early warning system.
Most of the evacuees eventually got back to their old lives but for Mr Rustam Gazi and many
others, there was nowhere to go - the land on which their houses once stood had been eroded
by the river. Home is now one of many bamboo huts built by the government in the aftermath
of the storm. "Four of us - me and my wife and two children - have been living in this hut for
the last three years," he said.
"Our life is stuck on the embankment. It seems my grandson who was born on this
embankment would have to spend his life like this if we do not move from here," said another
villager, Mr Amirul, who goes by one name.
His hut is about 1.5m high. There is no furniture inside, only a woven mattress made of date
leaves. "I had everything. A big house upon an acre of land, a shrimp farm," he said, pointing
towards the river, nearly 46m away from the embankment.
Thousands from other villages living in 14 districts of the south-west coast live in danger of
ending up in a similar plight - homes swept away by cyclones, land inundated by tidal waves.
"This is just one cyclone, but it has turned the whole area into a wasteland. Imagine what
would happen when another major cyclone strikes the area," said Professor Ainun Nishat, a
water resource engineer and one of the country's climate change scientists. "The salinity level
in the water and soil of that particular area has reached the level of the Bay of Bengal.
Nothing will grow until rainwater drains the salinity from the soil," he said.
In 2010, the International Climate Change Risk Assessments identified Bangladesh as the
world's most vulnerable country to climate change and natural disasters. Its coastal belt
covers more than 700km and is home to more than 30 million people.
It is also highly vulnerable to devastation by cyclones.
On Nov 12, 1970, a cyclone hit the coastal districts of Bangladesh. The official death toll was
170,000, but unofficial estimates were as high as 500,000.
In 2007, 5,000 people died from Cyclone Sidr while the death toll from Cyclone Aila in 2009
was less than 1,000. These figures show Bangladesh has improved its disaster management
over the years. But cyclones are intensifying, exacting a huge cost.
The Global Climate Risk Index 2010 estimated that 8,241 people died each year from 244
cases of extreme weather conditions in Bangladesh, with damage amounting to over US$2
billion (S$2.5 billion) a year and gross domestic product loss of 1.81 per cent, for the period
1990 to 2008.
Facing repeated disasters like cyclones and storm surges, Bangladesh has invested over
US$10 billion in the last 35 years on disaster risk management measures - both structural
such as shelters and non-structural (early warning dissemination, awareness and disaster
preparedness) to address the risks. Yet, there remain many other challenges, not least rising
tide levels and the encroachment of the sea inland.
A salinity map survey conducted by Bangladesh researchers released in 2012 revealed around
1.05 million ha in the coastal area are suffering from salinity. This comprises around 15 per
cent of the country's total land area.
The salt water has gradually intruded into rivers and seeped into large swathes of farmland,
the study found. The salinity level in some areas was as high as 25 ppt (25g of salt dissolved
in 1kg of soil or water). The seawater intrusion has put the health, livelihood and food
security of millions of people living in coastal areas in jeopardy.
A study conducted by the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research of Brac
University released last year showed one in every 10 people affected by Cyclone Aila from
Satkhira district had no choice but to leave their ancestral homesteads.
Dr Saleemul Haque, a climate change scientist, noted that "what Bangladesh is facing today...
other countries would face maybe 20 years later". How Bangladesh copes with the changes
now can be instructive for the rest of the world, he added.
THE DAILY STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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Climate change: Snapshots from Malaysia, China and Pakistan
PUBLISHED ON AUG 30, 2014 7:05 AM
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Glaciers in the Animaqin Mountains in the source area of the Yellow River are shrinking. -- PHOTO: LIU SHIYIN/ASIA
NEWS NETWORK
Malaysia: Telltale signs in the air
KUALA LUMPUR - Mr Kevin Tan, a member of Kuala Lumpur's burgeoning middle class,
dreamt that he would see the day when he, his wife and his young son would have to endure
months of dry taps in the bustling metropolis.
His household was just one among millions affected by an unusual, three-month-long hot and
dry spell which struck parts of peninsular Malaysia in mid-January.
The extended drought followed a brief period of unusually cool weather in January.
Some experts believe these are signs of how climate change is affecting Malaysia.
Global Environment Centre director Faizal Parish said the three-month drought has been
"quite unusual", as the dry spell that normally occurs around the Chinese New Year period
early in the year usually lasts for just one to two weeks.
But others, like the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's climate change expert
Gary W. Theseira, are more circumspect, saying that there is no conclusive proof although
there is a growing body of evidence of an increase in rainfall intensity, and changes in rainfall
duration and frequency patterns relating to prolonged wet or dry periods.
Mr Gurmit Singh, chairman of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development
Malaysia, said that the country badly needed better data collection and a central depository
for the study of climate change.
"Only then can we drive the concept of green cities. At the moment, there is a big knowledge
gap. We have no hard data, so how do we instil urgency in Malaysians?" he said.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
China: Rapidly shrinking glaciers
BEIJING - Glacier retreat is barely noticeable to most people but could affect millions in
Asia who rely on glacial meltwater from China for a year-round supply of fresh water.
Experienced glaciologists like Professor Liu Shiyin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
have gathered evidence of the loss. Two pictures of glaciers in the Animaqin Mountains in
the source area of the Yellow River, one taken by him in 2002 and the other taken by his
colleague Guo Wanqing in 2011, showed signs of obvious shrinkage.
"A large number of small glaciers have shrunk and disappeared in China in the past 50 to 60
years. Glaciers are very sensitive to global warming," he said, noting the stepped-up loss in
many of the glaciers in Xinjiang.
As rapid development in the form of new factories, roads and mines contributes to rising
temperatures, more small glaciers will disappear in the coming 20 to 40 years, a study by Prof
Liu's team warns.
CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Pakistan: Too much rain... or too little?
ISLAMABAD - For several years, Pakistan has suffered repeated blows from a changing
climate: erratic monsoon rains, rising temperatures leading to reduced agricultural output,
glacial floods in its mountains, seawater intrusion into the Indus Delta and extreme weather
events like major floods and droughts.
Pakistan was hit by floods in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and severe droughts from 1999 to 2002.
The 2010 floods, triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the north of the country, were
considered the worst floods in Pakistan's history. More than 2,000 people were killed.
Climate expert Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry says: "Extreme weather events in Pakistan are
increasing. The super-floods of 2010 affected around 20 million people in the country; and in
2011, five years of rainfall fell in just four weeks in Sindh."
Drought is also a problem in some areas. In Balochistan, the largest province, only 2.1
million hectares out of a total of 19.4 million hectares are cultivated due to shortage of water.
DAWN/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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Iceland declares volcano eruption area safe for aircraft
PUBLISHED ON AUG 30, 2014 12:03 AM
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REYKJAVIK (AFP) - Iceland on Friday temporarily banned air traffic near its largest
volcano after a lava field erupted overnight, threatening a repeat of the global travel chaos
four years ago when another peak blew.
The aviation "red alert" for Bardarbunga volcano was lifted in the late morning when it
became clear that the eruption was minor and did not release large quantities of ash.
During the alert, Iceland's airports remained opened with no disruption to flights, according
to the national airport operator Isavia.
In 2010, another Icelandic volcanic eruption caused the biggest closure of European airspace
in peacetime, halting 100,000 flights and stranding eight million passengers.
While Bardarbunga - located under Europe's largest glacier - had not yet started spewing ash
as of Friday afternoon, the release of a massive cloud remained a possible scenario with
potentially dire consequences for aviation.
"An eruption began... just after midnight," said the civil protection office in a statement,
adding that it took place in a lava field 5km north of the volcano, creating a volcanic fissure
900m long.
"No volcanic ash has been detected by the radar system at the moment. The earthquake
caused by the eruption is small, indicating an... eruption without significant explosive
activity," it said.
The authority described the event as an "effusive eruption without significant explosive
activity" - meaning the lava flow was mostly on the surface of the volcano with little
"airborne ash material".
Tumi Gudmundsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland told public broadcaster RUV
that the eruption was an "accidental" knock-on effect of seismic activity inside the volcano
but that an explosive eruption of volcano itself could still occur and was impossible to predict.
When the red alert was first issued in the early hours of Friday morning a vast area of
Icelandic airspace was closed off - including the northern airport of Akureyri which has
regular internal flights and connections to Greenland and several European cities.
Later, the restricted area was reduced to 18.5km around the site of the eruption at altitudes
below 1,500m.
The Bardarbunga volcano system became active on Aug 16, producing hundreds of tremors
daily.
Four days later hundreds of people were evacuated from the area north of the Vatnajoekull
glacier which covers the volcano and is largely uninhabited, with only trekking cabins and
campsites used by tourists and hunters in the summer months.
Friday was the second time in less than a week that Icelandic authorities issued a red alert to
aviation but then lowered the level to orange - meaning that eruption is possible but not
imminent - soon after.
The alert around Bardarbunga was first raised to red from orange on Aug 23, with
earthquakes shaking the volcanic system more than 20 times an hour on Tuesday alone.
One of the quakes measured 5.7, the most powerful in the area since 1996.
Bardarbunga, in the south-east of the country, is Iceland's second-highest peak, and is
believed to have the potential to cause serious disruptions to air traffic if there is a major
eruption.
The eruption of Eyjafjoell, a smaller volcano, in April 2010 caused travel mayhem.
Iceland's most active sub-glacial volcano Grimsvotn erupted in 2011, forcing the country to
temporarily shut its airspace and also sparking fears of a repeat of the Eyjafjoell flight chaos.
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