{"id":5060,"date":"2024-04-27T13:08:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T13:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=5060"},"modified":"2024-04-27T13:08:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T13:08:07","slug":"georgia-to-host-development-summit-climate-change-aging-on-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=5060","title":{"rendered":"Georgia to host development summit; climate change, aging on agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nSYDNEY \u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
The Asian Development Bank holds its annual meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia, next week, with discussions on climate change and the world\u2019s aging population high on the agenda.<\/p>\n
The four-day summit, starting Thursday, marks the first time that the ADB\u2019s 68 members have gathered for a meeting in Georgia, which joined the multilateral development bank in 2007.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorgia sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia,\u201d said Shalini Mittal, a principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis meeting signifies ADB’s agenda of bridges to the future where technology and expertise from the West can be used to enhance structural reforms in Asia,\u201d Mittal told VOA.<\/p>\n
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Alongside numerous panel discussions and a keynote speech from ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, finance ministers from Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries Japan, China and South Korea will also meet on the sidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the geopolitical uncertainty with the Ukraine-Russia war and tensions in Asia with China\u2019s problematic relations with its neighbors, I think the meeting is taking place at a crucial time,\u201d said Jason Chung, a senior adviser with the Project on Prosperity and Development at Washington\u2019s Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt provides an additional path to have meaningful discussions on global economic issues,\u201d Chung told VOA.<\/p>\n
Climate change stressed<\/strong><\/p>\n
The issue of climate change is set to headline proceedings at the conference, with the ADB now marketing itself as the climate bank for the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n
The bank pledged a record $9.8 billion of climate finance in 2023, supporting developing countries to cut greenhouse emissions and adapt to extreme conditions as global warming continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cStorm surges, sea level rise, heat waves, droughts, and floods \u2014 all our countries suffer from all of the imaginable impacts of climate change,\u201d said Warren Evans, who, as senior special adviser on climate change in the ADB president\u2019s office, acts as the institution\u2019s climate envoy.<\/p>\n
The bank says that the Asia-Pacific region was hit by over 200 disasters last year alone, with many of them weather related, a problem that shows no sign of letting up.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, there’s a heatwave in Bangladesh that is causing severe impacts. Schools are closed, they’re seeing a drop in agricultural productivity, hospitals are getting overloaded with people with heatstroke,\u201d Evans told VOA.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nRickshaw pullers rest amid a severe heatwave in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 25, 2024. Millions of pupils were told to stay home this week as the South Asian nation swelters through one of its worst heatwaves on record.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cMortality rates are going up and, of course, women and children are the most vulnerable to those impacts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While much of the Asia-Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to climate change, it is also a huge driver of the phenomenon.<\/p>\n
The region contributes more than half of global carbon dioxide emissions, with a heavy reliance on coal as a source of energy, according to the ADB.<\/p>\n
To try to reach net zero targets, many Asia-Pacific nations require huge investment to convert to clean energy alternatives.<\/p>\n
One way that the ADB is tackling this issue is through a program targeting coal-burning power plants, a major contributor to emissions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith private sector partners and sovereign funding, we’re refinancing coal-fired power plants in order to be able to close them down early,\u201d Evans said. The ADB’s “energy transition mechanism” uses private and public capital to refinance investments in coal-fired power, allowing power purchase agreements to be shortened and plants to be closed as much as a decade earlier than planned. The financing is also used to fund clean energy projects to generate the power that would have come from the coal plant.<\/p>\n
The project looks to replace these plants with clean energy alternatives, ensuring that power is generated more sustainably.<\/p>\n
A coal-burning power plant in Indonesia\u2019s West Java is set to become the first to be retired early under the initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe communities that are impacted will have support, allowing people to find new jobs or to get social welfare,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nFILE – Wicker and seagrass coffins are displayed at the Asia Funeral and Cemetery Expo and Conference in Hong Kong, May 18, 2017. The expo underscores how Asia’s rapidly aging population makes its death industry a potentially lucrative market.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Aging population in Asia<\/strong><\/p>\n
During the Tbilisi summit, the ADB will also launch a major report on aging population, which also affects member countries\u2019 economies.<\/p>\n
According to the bank, 1 in 4 people in the Asia-Pacific region will be over 60 by 2050, close to 1.3 billion people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe speed of aging is very quick in Asia, because of the rapid progress in the social development that has taken place in the region,\u201d said Aiko Kikkawa, a senior economist for the ADB\u2019s Aging Well in Asia report.<\/p>\n
Researchers have investigated the implications of this demographic transition, with Kikkawa finding that the Asia-Pacific region is currently \u201cunprepared\u201d for aging populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cLarge numbers of older people do report a substantial disease burden, lack of access to decent jobs or essential services, such as health and long-term care, and even lack of access to pension coverage,\u201d Kikkawa told VOA.<\/p>\n
The ADB has pledged to help to improve the lives of older people across the Asia-Pacific region, by supporting the rollout of universal health coverage and providing infrastructure for \u2018age-friendly cities\u2019 that are more accessible for older people.<\/p>\n
Poverty to be addressed<\/strong><\/p>\n
While much of the focus in Tbilisi will be on climate change and aging populations, the ADB\u2019s core edict remains to eradicate extreme poverty in its many developing country members.<\/p>\n
That task has become even more challenging in an environment of high inflation and growing government debt.<\/p>\n
However, Chung, the former U.S. director of the ADB, told VOA he believes that this goal should be at the center of discussions in the Georgian capital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ADB should focus on its core mission of alleviating poverty and creating paths for economic growth in the developing member countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile climate risk is important, I think given the state of uncertainty, it is important to provide support to create economic conditions for growth,\u201d he told VOA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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