Asia-Pacific could face climate-induced migration

IBN Live (India): Countries including India face the greatest risk from severe climate change, which could force millions of people to flee their homes and trigger environmental migration, according to an Asian Development Bank report. The report titled "Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific" says Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Pakistan face the greatest risk, but Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, China and South Korea are also especially vulnerable.

In 2010, the report says, more than 30 million in the region were displaced by environmental disasters such as storms and floods. "And the best signs about climate change suggest that these kinds of events will become more severe, and perhaps more numerous, in the years ahead," Bart Edes, director of ADB's Poverty Reduction, Gender, and Social Development Division, said. "You combine (severe climate change) with great populations in vulnerable circumstances, fast growing cities that are in low-lying areas, high population density and you have a recipe for even more displacement," Edes said.

According to ADB report, released on Thursday the Asia-Pacific region is highly exposed to environmental risks, having by far the highest population density of any continent, especially along coasts, while it is also home to the largest number of people living in poverty. "Globally, eight to 10 countries with the largest number of people living in low-elevation coastal zones are in the region," the report says....

Crowds at the ghats in Varanasi, India, watching the July 22, 2009 total solar eclipse, shot by Bluerasberry