Natural disasters spark need to focus on green growth: ADB expert

"We believe that this is important. We have to see the same thing for climate change, as damage could be 100 times bigger than the cost to prevent it … This is an attractive paradigm for developing countries," said Daniele Ponzi, principal environment specialist at the ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

In a telephone interview from Manila, he said sustainable development approaches were more easily implemented in developing countries than in developed countries, where the lifestyle and consumption pattern has taken firm root.

Developing countries are growing and, for some time, increasing per-capita income would allow them to focus more on green initiatives to boost their economies, and not just on pure economic growth.

Moreover, he said, developing countries must avoid repeating industrial nations’ missteps.

The specialist is in Bangkok today to launch the report "Green Growth, Resources and Resilience: Environmental Sustainability in Asia and the Pacific".

The report – commissioned by the ADB, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and the United Nations Environment Programme – provides new insights into trends in resource use in the Asia-Pacific.

As "business as usual" growth strategies are no longer appropriate, it also outlines key actions for bringing economic growth in closer alignment with sustainable development objectives. Last year, several Asian countries, including Thailand, suffered hugely from climate-change-induced flood disasters, which claimed more than 1,000 lives and cost damage in the billions of US dollars.

The report is aimed at setting a sustainable development framework for the Asia-Pacific ahead of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil in June.

Ponzi commended Thailand’s efforts after the flood disaster, with the authorities seeing the need for land-use review and reforestation, and "not to let the nature takes its course". Plus, Thailand is advancing in terms of green energy, with the Alternative Energy Development Plan, he said, adding that the clear strategy on green energy had encouraged the ADB jointly to finance solar power plants in the country.

Still, Thailand has a lot to do in terms of transportation, he added. Offering more means of public transport is a must, and this could include a vehicle-borrowing scheme like in Europe, to ease traffic congestion and energy consumption.

For long-term sustainability, Asia-Pacific countries also need to remove subsidies that encourage consumption and constitute pollution, he said. Ponzi also said "there is large room for demand-side management", given huge infrastructure investment in the region. Such investment would render long-term benefits if it could turn the region towards lower-carbon economies.

A positive factor is that some countries in the region realise the need for green growth. China, in particular, in 2010 overtook the United States in terms of green technology investment. The investment in the year accounted for US$54 billion (Bt1.66 trillion) or |1.4 per cent of gross domestic product, with the focus on wind and solar power.

The specialist said that not many developing countries could see this, though. For sustainability in the long term, they need to understand the consequences of environmental impacts. Deforestation in one village can affect the whole country, and not just villagers who rely on the forest for food, he added.

To influence the direction, the ADB is shaping its strategies coherently in order to ensure sustainability. The issue – one of three key objectives, the others being inclusive growth and regional integration – now commands half of the ADB’s financing, Ponzi said.