Ningxia Hui autonomous region is more than
1,000km from Beijing and China's booming coastal cities. Near Inner Mongolia,
it is one of China's poorest regions, and in recent years has seen both less
rain and shifting weather patterns.
It is
watered by the storied Yellow River, but that river has been shrinking. Locals
in Ningxia Hui get by with just 14 per cent of the amount of water the average
Chinese consumes every day.
To
adapt, the local government has moved tens of thousands of villagers from
parched areas.
Villages
stricken by drought are abandoned to let the surrounding ecology regenerate.
Those who leave move to subsidised housing close to water and roads, with
biogas-based electricity, schools and greenhouses. Relocated villagers also
receive financial assistance and training.
Some
180,000 people migrated from drought-hit villages in Ningxia Hui from 2006 to
2010. Over the next five years, 350,000 more will migrate.
Ningxia
Hui is one example of the toll of climate change but it is not the worst. China
is not even on the list of 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Six of
those on the list however are in the Asia-Pacific region - Bangladesh, India,
Nepal, the Philippines, Afghanistan and Burma.
More
than 42 million people in Asia and the Pacific were displaced by extreme
weather events over the last two years, said the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
yesterday.
Many
were those who lived in Asia's low-lying zones close to the sea and major
rivers. With the world's temperature expected to rise by up to 2 deg C by 2050,
and possibly by up to 4 deg C by 2100, the ADB warned that governments will
need to factor in climate change in their development plans, including planning
for mass migration.
In a
new report - "Climate-Induced Migration" - released during a two-day
conference here, the ADB said that increasing waves of migration are straining
the ability of cities and governments to cope.
The
best example is Dhaka. The capital of Bangladesh is home to about 12 million people,
of which close to four million live in slums.
According
to the International Organisation for Migration, over 60 per cent of slum
dwellers in Dhaka have experienced environmental disasters. And the population
is still growing; Dhaka is on course to become the fourth-largest megacity in
the world by 2025.
The ADB
urged more support for vulnerable populations so that they have a choice not to
migrate - and better infrastructure and livelihood alternatives for those who
were forced to do so.
Governments
need to use new financial instruments including "catastrophe bonds"
and special insurance schemes. The Asia-Pacific
region,
the bank said, needs to spend about US$40 billion a year up to the end of 2050
to "climate proof" itself.
"The
solutions are there, they just cost money," ADB vice-president Bindu
Lohani told journalists.
While
people migrate for a variety of other reasons, "the environment is
becoming a significant driver of migration in Asia and the Pacific as the
population grows in vulnerable areas", Lohani said.
The
existence of sound migration policies can determine whether people become
migrants or refugees, said research fellow Francois Gemenne, from the
France-based Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations.
Nirmal
Ghosh
The
Straits Times
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