Category: Climate Change

Following close on the heels of the study of climate change in Europe, published by WMO on Monday, the State of the Climate in Asia 2023 report highlighted the accelerating rate of climate change across several indicators such as surface temperature, glacier retreat, sea level rise and more. 

“The report’s conclusions are sobering. Many countries in the region experienced their hottest year on record in 2023, along with a barrage of extreme conditions, from droughts and heatwaves to floods and storms,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General. 

Climate change has exacerbated the frequency and severity of such events that profoundly impact societies, economies, and, most importantly, human lives, she underscored.

Faster than average

With the warming trend almost doubling since the period from 1960–1990, Asia is heating up faster than the global average, with increased casualties and economic losses from floods, storms, and more severe heatwaves. 

In 2023, sea-surface temperatures in the northwest Pacific Ocean were the highest on record. Even the Arctic Ocean suffered a marine heatwave. In many areas of the region, including the Arabian Sea, the southern Kara Sea, and the southeastern Laptev Sea, the sea surface is warming more than three times faster than globally. The Barents Sea was identified by the report as a “climate change hotspot”.

Driven by thermal expansion and the melting of glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, sea level continued to rise globally. However, in Asia, rates were higher than the global mean over 1993–2023.

Last year, the continent (just to vary the language) saw 79 water hazard-related disasters, with over 80 per cent linked to floods and storms, resulting in over 2,000 fatalities and affecting nine million people directly, according to the Emergency Events Database.

Temperatures up, precipitation down

Many parts of the region experienced extreme heat in 2023. Asia’s annual mean near-surface temperature ranked as the second highest on record with 0.91 °C above the 1991–2020 average. Particularly high temperatures were observed from western Siberia to central Asia, and from eastern China to Japan. Japan and Kazakhstan experienced a record warm year.

Meanwhile, the level of precipitation was below normal in large parts of the Turan Lowland (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan), the Hindu Kush (Afghanistan, Pakistan) and the Himalayas, as well as around the Ganges and lower course of the Brahmaputra Rivers (India and Bangladesh). 

The Arakan Mountains in Myanmar and the lower course of the Mekong River areas have also seen less rainfall than usual, while Southwest China suffered from a drought, with below-normal precipitation levels nearly every month of 2023. 

Despite overall lower precipitation, several extreme events occurred, such as heavy rainfall in Myanmar in May; floods and storms across India, Pakistan, and Nepal in June and July, and record hourly rainfall in Hong Kong in September, to name a few. 

Retreating glaciers and receding permafrost 

Home to the largest volume of ice outside of the polar regions, the High-Mountain Asia region with the Tibetan Plateau at its centre, has approximately 100,000 square kilometres of glaciers. Over the last several decades, most of those have been retreating, and at an accelerating rate. Twenty out of 22 observed glaciers continued losing mass, yielding to record-breaking high temperatures and dry conditions.

UN Nepal/Narendra Shrestha

Glaciers in the Everest region are melting at an unprecedented rate.

Permafrost – soil that continuously remains below 0 °C for two or more years – is also surrendering territories to the increasing air temperatures in the Arctic. The most rapid thawing of permafrost in Asia is observed in the Polar Urals and the western regions of Western Siberia. 

Severe dust storms, lightning and thunders, waves of extreme cold and thick smog were also among extreme events that affected lives of millions across Asia. 

Early warning for all

The report shows that from 1970 to 2021, there were 3,612 disasters attributed to weather, climate and water extremes, with 984,263 deaths and $1.4 trillion in economic losses. The region accounted for 47 per cent of all reported deaths caused by natural disasters worldwide, with tropical cyclones as the leading cause of reported deaths.

To mitigate these impacts, the WMO and its partners advocate for a strong early warning and disaster risk reduction system to save lives and prevent future economic crises exacerbated by climate change.

“Early warning and better preparedness saved thousands of lives,” said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which partnered in producing the report. 

“ESCAP and WMO, working in partnership, will continue to invest in raising climate ambition and accelerating the implementation of sound policy, including bringing an early warning to all in the region so that no one is left behind as our climate change crisis continues to evolve,” she assured. 

Dominica, which lies in Eastern Caribbean, is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events, which are being exacerbated by the climate crisis: Hurricane Maria in 2017 was a devastating example, destroying many homes and buildings.

The indigenous Kalinago people were particularly affected but, since then, community leaders have been working with the UN to help its people to become more resilient, in anticipation of the next climate shock.

Ahead of the 2024 session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) Conor Lennon from UN News met Sylvanie Burton – who is both the country’s first Kalinago, and also first woman, Head of State – and Lorenzo Sanford, the youngest-ever Chief of the Kalinago community, to find out how they plan to achieve their goal of making the island the world’s first “climate-resilient” nation, and why the young people of the community are central to the resurgence of the indigenous culture on the island.

UN News/ Brianna Rowe

Sylvanie Burton (l), Lorenzo Sanford (c), Conor Lennon (r)

Lorenzo Sanford In the past it was always the same people who were elected as chief. I wanted to make a difference, and introduce the views of younger individuals, because our community has many young people, by taking a ground-up approach.

UN News What did the older generations of the Kalinago community think about such a young person being made chief?

Sylvanie Burton The Kalinago population is around 65 per cent young people, so we wanted to give our youth the opportunity to make a difference. We rallied around Lorenzo, which give him the level of authority needed in order to become chief. 

UN News What effect did Hurricane Maria have on the Kalinago Territory?

Lorenzo Sanford I was on another part of the island when Maria hit, and I wanted to check on my family. There was no internet, no phone connection, and the roads were blocked, so the only way to return was on foot, using the traditional trails.

When I came across the mountains, everything was brown; there was no greenery anymore. All you could see was destroyed homes, and people looking lost, not knowing what to do.

Sylvanie Burton Before Maria arrived, I knew that our island was going to take a direct hit. So, we called an emergency council and decided to go to the homes of the elderly and take them to the shelters. By mid-afternoon most vulnerable people had been taken to safety.

And then the tropical storm started coming in. The sea was raging and I could hear the roaring of the wind coming up from the valley. The storm pounded us for hours and hours. I started praying, and even asked God why he was not answering our prayers. I was thankful that I was in a concrete structure, and I could only imagine what was happening to our people living in small wooden houses in the rest of the Kalinago Territory. 

The next day, after the storm had passed, we though that the sea was very close to our homes. It wasn’t, but it seemed that way because all of the trees and the houses were gone. 

It was a very painful experience that you wouldn’t want anyone to go through. It was a miracle that no one in our territory died.

UN News/ Brianna Rowe

Traditional Kalinago building, reinforced by concrete

UN News Before the hurricane most of the buildings were made of wood, but I’ve seen several concrete homes and buildings. Is that construction part of the effort to make Dominica more resilient?

Lorenzo Sanford Yes. In the Kalinago Territory we have a lot of different housing projects going on. We went into the community with the different agencies that were proposing to help, to see how we could make stronger houses, that would still be built in a Kalinago style. We are also building a large multipurpose community shelter, but we want more people to feel safer in their own homes the next time a tropical storm hits. 

UN News Access to reliable information is crucial to saving lives. How are you ensuring that as many people as possible have early warnings about extreme weather events?

Sylvanie Burton We’re working to get better information on the climate and get it out to the population before storms hit. We are also creating ICT (information communication technology) hubs across Dominica, where people can access information before the storms, take precautions, and get to a shelter ahead of time. 

UN News/ Brianna Rowe

Kalinago Territory, Dominica

UN News Raising the finance to deal with the consequences of the climate crisis is an issue for all Small Island Developing States, not just Dominica. You’re not responsible for the crisis, but you’re disproportionately affected by it. Is it getting easier to access the funds you need to adapt?

Sylvanie Burton At the UN climate conferences, we hear the big polluting countries promise to give funds and reduce their own carbon footprint. But these countries need to turn their promises into action. 

For example, after Hurricane Maria, the UN Secretary-General came to Dominica, and several countries made pledges to help. But many of these pledges were not fulfilled, so we had to take out loans to ensure that we build a climate-resilient country. 

We are very thankful for the UN organizations that are assisting Dominica, and the countries that are assisting, but it will take a little more. These big countries need to put their money where their mouth is! 

UN News The Kalinago have been on this island for more than 500 years. Has that accumulated folk knowledge helped you to adapt to the changing climate?

Lorenzo Sanford I would say that it has helped us to bounce back in in a very fast way. For example, our indigenous practices inform how we plant our food. So, we hope that this knowledge will be passed on to younger generations, so that we can safeguard our future, both within the Kalinago Territory and across the whole island.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The UN Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index Report 2024 highlights that latest data from 2022 shows 1.05 billion tonnes of food went to waste.

Some 19 per cent of food available to consumers was lost overall at retail, food service, and household levels.

That is in addition to around 13 per cent of food lost in the supply chain, as estimated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), from post-harvest up to the point of sale. 

‘Global tragedy’

“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted across the world,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, explaining that this ongoing issue not only impacts the global economy but also exacerbates climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

Most of the world’s food waste comes from households, totalling 631 million tonnes – or up to 60 per cent – of the total food squandered. The food service and retail sectors were responsible for 290 and 131 million tonnes accordingly.

On average, each person wastes 79 kilogrammes of food annually. This is the equivalent of 1.3 meals every day for everyone in the world impacted by hunger, the report authors underscore.

Not just a ‘rich country’ problem

The problem is not confined to affluent nations. Following a near doubling of data coverage since the 2021 Food Waste Index Report was published, there has been increased convergence between rich and poor.

High-income, upper-middle income, and lower-middle income countries differ in average levels of household food waste by just seven kilogrammes per capita per year. 

The bigger divide comes in the variations between urban and rural populations.

In middle-income countries, for example, rural areas are generally wasting less. One possible explanation is in the recycling of food scraps for pets, animal feed, and home composting in the countryside. 

The report recommends focusing efforts on strengthening food waste reduction and composting in cities. 

Waste and climate change

There is a direct correlation between average temperatures and food waste levels, the report finds.

Hotter countries appear to have more food waste per capita in households, potentially due to increased consumption of fresh foods containing fewer edible parts and a lack of robust refrigeration and preservation solutions.

Higher seasonal temperatures, extreme heat events, and droughts make it more challenging to store, process, transport, and sell food safely, often leading to a significant volume of food being wasted or lost.

Since food loss and waste generates up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions – almost five times the total emissions compared to the aviation sector – reducing emissions from food waste is essential, UNEP expert believe. 

Food for hope

There is room for optimism, the report suggests: public-private partnerships to reduce food waste and impacts on climate and water stress are being embraced by a steadily growing number of governments of all levels.

Examples include Japan and the UK with reductions of 18 per cent and 31 per cent respectively, showing that change at scale is possible, if food is rationed properly. 

Published ahead of the International Day of Zero Waste, the UNEP Food Waste Index Report, has been co-authored with WRAP, a UK climate action NGO.

It provides the most accurate global estimate on food waste at retail and consumer levels, offering countries guidance on improving data collection and best practices, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 of halving food waste by 2030.