UN climate report carries warning for Arab states - dpa

By Pakinam Amer
Dec 5, 2007, 19:28 GMT

Cairo - Warnings against human-induced climate change resulting from greenhouse gas emissions, scarce and strained water resources, lack of food security and deteriorating human health dominated the United Nation Development Programme's newest report.

Launched in the Egypt-based League of Arab nations during an Arab environment and development ministers meeting, the UNDP's Human Development Report for 2007/2008, labelled Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world, called for collective and immediate action and warned against pessimism.

'Confronted with a problem as daunting as climate change, resigned pessimism might seem a justified response,' read the report. 'However, resigned pessimism is a luxury that the world's poor and future generations cannot afford - and there is an alternative.'

The first step lies in taking adaptive measures to climate change, unique to each countries' conditions, said the report.

The Arab world, like other regions, contributes to 'deep carbon footprints' with Egypt having some of the highest levels of carbon emissions globally.

Already, the north African country is threatened by climate shocks like floods that lessen longterm opportunities for human development. In Egypt, as in other developing counties of the Arab world, many of the poor depend on natural resources for their livelihood.

However, erosion of the coast of the Nile Delta, pollution, and salinization are affecting agricultural productivity and in turn could lead to possible loss of land.

'The evidence of climate change is there and the change will get worse. You find it in shortage of water in areas that are already short of water, like the Arab areas and Egypt,' said Mohammed al- Ashry, UNDP official and co-author of the report.

Al-Ashry told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the report sheds light on the percentages of the decrease of water availability in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, mainly the Nile Delta.

Concerning Egypt, the sea level changes are causing a threat to the northern Nile Delta especially, he said.

'If you have one metre decrease in sea level then you are going to lose more than 4,500 square kilometres of the delta and around six million people will need to be relocated,' al-Ashry told dpa. Agricultural production would also be affected.

The regional report addresses the people, according to the UNDP official, and the poor in Egypt and the Arab world are suffering the most from climate change.

The report concludes that the 'expenditure on social affairs is very low for the Arab world,' said al-Ashry where the most underprivileged are those 'people who are living in work areas and suburbs.'

It's the human development aspects that Egypt and the Arab countries should focus on, from education to health care and nutrition efforts, he said.

The Arab world needs to strengthen social safety net programmes, according to report recommendations. The region is reluctant to make any tangible efforts to change the status quo; leaning instead on claims of gradual efforts, say observers.

'Everyone is talking about a gradual effort to combat climate change with time markers such as 2020, 2030 and 2050, (but) top scientists believe that the climate change will be both sudden and severe,' said al-Ashry.

In November's summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), member states, including Arab nations, stressed their commitment to fighting global warming and harmful environmental changes.

However, the UNDP official believes that these counties want to appear more cooperative through giving 750-million-dollar funds which are 'a drop in the bucket with the price of oil as it is,' approaching the 100-dollar-a-barrel mark.

'OPEC, I don't actually believe for a moment that they think about climate change. They are producing climate change,' said al-Ashry.

'Some of them are concerned that reducing gas emissions would mean energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, renewable energy, perhaps even nuclear (energy), and in turn cutting down on use of oil.'

'This is utter nonsense; oil will always be important and will be used. But this is a very defensive approach on their part.'

The solution? 'The combat against climate change has to be part of the economic thinking of the country, preparing strategies for human and economic development putting in mind climate change,' al-Ashry told dpa.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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