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| Several Asian megacities are at risk of flooding linked to global warming (AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA) |
The UN chief on Saturday warned Asia to quit its "addiction" to coal, as climate change threatens hundreds of millions of people vulnerable to rising sea levels across the region.
The warning
follows fresh research this week predicting that several Asian megacities,
including Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Mumbai, are at risk of extreme flooding
linked to global warming.
Antonio
Guterres said Asian countries need to cut reliance on coal to tackle the
climate crisis, which he called the "defining issue of our time".
"There
is an addiction to coal that we need to overcome because it remains a major
threat in relation to climate change," he told reporters ahead of a
meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok on
Saturday.
He said
countries in the region need to be on "the front line" of the fight
by introducing carbon pricing and reforming energy policies.
"We
are lagging behind," he said, adding that the rollback of coal could help
curb rising global temperatures.
Coal
remains a major source of power across Southeast Asia, where breakneck economic
development has spurred soaring energy demands -- but at a cost to the
environment.
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| Antonio Guterres said Asian countries need to cut reliance on coal to head off the climate crisis (AFP Photo/Joe Freeman) |
About
one-third of Vietnam's energy comes from coal power with a slew of new plants
set to come online by 2050, while Thailand is investing in fossil fuels.
Coastal
areas across Southeast Asia have already seen major floods and seawater
incursion linked to climate change.
New
research this week showed that at least 300 million people worldwide are living
in places at risk of inundation by 2050, a much bleaker picture than previous
data predicted.
Destructive
storm surges fuelled by increasingly powerful cyclones and rising seas will hit
Asia hardest, according to the study in the journal Nature Communications.
The UN
chief also spoke on Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims, nearly
three-quarters of a million of whom were driven into Bangladesh in 2017.
He urged
Myanmar's government to "address the root causes of displacement and
allowing of the return, voluntary and in safety and dignity" to Myanmar.
"Some
steps have been done but they are too small. We need to do much more," he
said.
Myanmar's
de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Bangkok for the summit and is
likely to face pressure over her country's treatment of the Rohingya,
particularly from Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia.
Myanmar has
rebuffed all international pressure so far while only hundreds of Rohingya have
returned to Myanmar, due to fear of further repression.
Related Articles:
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)
“… 4 - Energy (again)
The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!
Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…
Water
We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet.
There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”
There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”
- Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
- Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
- Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
- Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
- Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans
