Climate change  mitigation and adaptation must go hand in hand with efforts to make development  more  inclusive and sustainable in Asia-Pacific countries, the top United Nations official in the region said in Bangkok Friday.

As  the  world's most natural disaster-prone region and with climate change adding  to  its vulnerability, Asia and the Pacific must make disaster risk reduction  and  climate  preparedness  a  key component of its economic and social  development agenda, said United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive  Secretary  of  the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Dr. Noeleen Heyzer.

"The  fight  against  extreme poverty cannot be won without also addressing the  climate  vulnerabilities  of our most at-risk communities," Dr. Heyzer said  in  her  opening  remarks  at  the  Asia-Pacific launch of the United Nations  climate  change  panel's  Special  Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Climate Change Adaptation (SREX).

Among  those  present  at the launch were Thailand's Science and Technology Minister,  Plodprasop  Suraswadi, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary General, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chairman, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri.

Noting  that  Asia-Pacific  countries  accounted  for 70 per cent of global losses from natural disasters in 2011, estimated at more than $366 billion, Dr.  Heyzer  said  the poor and marginalized suffer the most from disasters related to climate change such as floods and droughts.

Hazards   linked  to  increasingly  variable  climate  conditions,  "become disasters  in  the  absence of development, where inequalities are greatest and with inadequate investment in risk reduction."

"The  Report  is  clear - that exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate  extremes  vary  greatly  'based  on inequalities expressed through levels  of  wealth and education, disability, and health status, as well as gender,  age,  class  and  other social and cultural characteristics'," Dr. Heyzer pointed out.

"The  combination  of disasters and development failures push the near-poor into poverty, and ensure even greater vulnerability to future disasters. It is a vicious cycle that must be broken."

According  to  the  ESCAP  Executive Secretary, climate change presents the greatest global challenge of the twenty first century, but also the biggest opportunity  to  make growth more inclusive and sustainable. "Early warning systems,  more sustainable land use planning, micro-insurance, better local ecosystem  management, improvements to health, water supply, sanitation and irrigation   -   these   are  all  important  development  challenges  with co-benefits for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction."

In  closing, she highlighted the opportunity Asia-Pacific countries have to harness  climate  action  as  a new driver of economic growth. In line with this,  ESCAP  will  unveil a Roadmap for Low Carbon Green Growth later  this month. nepalnews.com