Climate Change - Rising to the Challenge

 

ASEAN Secretariat, 6 November 2009

ASEAN can provide the platform for further policy relevant research on climate change issues by connecting the academia and researchers with policy makers, both at the national and regional level, said the Secretary-General of ASEAN today. Dr Surin Pitsuwan was speaking at the close of the Climate Change Workshop entitled “Is Southeast Asia Up to the Challenge?” held at the ASEAN Secretariat on 5-6 November 2009. The workshop was organised by the ASEAN Secretariat and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

“The deliberations over the course of the last two days have shown how important it is for the researchers and academics to unravel many of the intricacies of climate change and to provide the necessary information for policy making and implementation,” said Dr Surin.

During the workshop, the ASEAN Secretariat presented the ASEAN policy framework on climate change situated within the context of sustainable development through the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009-2015. The ASEAN Leaders have committed to act proactively and responsibly to contribute to the global efforts on climate change through their various declarations on this issue. 

Dr Surin said, “our task is to translate all these policies and strategies into actions,” adding that the leadership in implementation comes not only from the governments, but also the private sector, academics and researchers, technocrats, the NGOs and community based organisations, and from the people themselves.

The workshop had brought together a line-up of very senior and high profile speakers, including Mr Gita Wirjawan of the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board and Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid, Senior Research Fellow at the LSE. The workshop also noted the key findings of an Asian Development Bank-UK study on the economics of climate change. The study had predicted that the Southeast Asia region will be the worst effected among all the other regions of the world. The worst case scenario points to a 4.8 degree Centigrade rise in temperature, rise of sea levels of up to 70 cm, and loss of rice yields of up to 75% by the year 2100, among others.

“We look forward to working with LSE and the ADB in further refining and doing shorter-term sectoral analysis that will enable ASEAN to make better informed policy choices for implementation,” Dr Surin said.