$100bn a year needed for climate-change adaptation: WB

       Developing countries will need US$100 billion (Bt3.4 trillion) a year for the cost of adaptation to climate change for the period 2010-2050, the preliminary findings of a new global study from the World Bank revealed yesterday.
       "Economic growth is the most powerful form of adaptation. However, it cannot be business as usual," said Warren Evans, director of the World Bank's Environment Department.
       He presented the study at a press conference at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bangkok.
       The study involves comparing a future world without climate change with a future world with climate change. The difference between these two worlds entails a series of actions to adapt to the new world conditions. The costs of these additional actions are the costs of adapting to climate change.
       A key part of the overall analysis involved estimating adaptation costs for major economic sectors under two alternative future climate scenarios - "wet" and "dry" - which is based on the 2 Celsius degrees warming during the 2010-2050 period.
       Under the relatively dryer scenario the adaptation cost is estimated at $75 billion per year, while under the scenario that assumes a future wetter climate it is $100 billion.
       This sum is the same order of magnitude as the foreign aid that developed countries now give developing countries each year, but it is still a very low percentage of the wealth countries, the study said.
       The highest costs for climate change adaptation will be borne by the East Asia and Pacific Region, followed closely by Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The dryer scenario requires lower adaptation costs in total in all regions, except South Asia.
       To face the prospect of huge additional infrastructure costs, as well as drought, disease and dramatic reductions in agricultural productivity, developing countries need to be prepared for the potential consequences of unchecked climate change.
       In this respect, access to necessary financing will be critical, the World Bank said in its press release.
       The report stresses that development strategies must maximise flexibility and incorporate knowledge about climate change as it is gained. It also finds that adaptation costs decline as a percentage of gross domestic product over time, suggesting that countries become less vulnerable to climate change as their economies grow.
       "Adaptation minimises the impacts of climate change, but it does not address its causes. There is no substitute for mitigation to reduce catastrophic risks," Evans said.