2020 hottest year on record for Asia: UN

GENEVA • Asia suffered its hottest year on record last year, with extreme weather taking a heavy toll on the continent's development, the United Nations said yesterday ahead of the COP26 summit.

In its annual State of the Climate in Asia report, the UN's World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said every part of the region had been affected.

"Extreme weather and climate change impacts across Asia in 2020 caused the loss of lives of thousands of people, displaced millions of others and cost hundreds of billions of dollars, while wreaking a heavy toll on infrastructure and ecosystems," the WMO said.

"Sustainable development is threatened, with food and water insecurity, health risks and environmental degradation on the rise."

The report comes days before COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Glasgow from Sunday to Nov 12.

The report also laid bare the total annual average losses due to climate-related hazards.

China suffered estimated losses of US$238 billion (S$320 billion), followed by India at US$87 billion, Japan at US$83 billion and South Korea at US$24 billion.

But when the size of the economy is considered, the average annual losses are likely to be up to 7.9 per cent of gross domestic product for Tajikistan, 5.9 per cent for Cambodia and 5.8 per cent for Laos.

Increased heat and humidity are forecast to lead to an effective loss of outdoor working hours across the continent, with a potential cost of many billions of dollars.

"Weather and climate hazards, especially floods, storms and droughts, had significant impacts in many countries of the region," said WMO chief Petteri Taalas. "Combined, these impacts take a significant toll on long-term sustainable development."

Many weather and climate-related displacements in Asia are prolonged, with people unable to return home or integrate locally.

Last year, floods and storms hit about 50 million people in Asia, resulting in over 5,000 deaths.

This is below the annual average of the last two decades with 158 million people affected and 15,500 fatalities, "and is testimony to the success of early warning systems in many countries in Asia", with about seven in 10 people covered.

Asia's warmest year on record saw the mean temperature 1.39 deg C above the 1981 to 2010 average. The 38 deg C posted in Russia's Verkhoyansk is likely the highest known temperature anywhere north of the Arctic Circle.

Average sea surface temperatures hit record highs in the Indian, Pacific and Arctic oceans last year. Sea surface temperatures and ocean warming in and around Asia are rising more than the global average. Also, warming is at more than triple the average in the Arabian Sea and parts of the Arctic Ocean.

Arctic sea ice minimum extent (after the summer melt) last year was the second lowest on the satellite record since 1979. There are about 100,000 sq km of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalayas - the largest volume of ice outside the polar regions and the source of 10 major Asian rivers.

"Glacier retreat is accelerating and it is projected that glacier mass will decrease by 20 per cent to 40 per cent by 2050, affecting the lives and livelihoods of about 750 million people in the region," the report said. "This has major ramifications for global sea levels, regional water cycles and local hazards such as landslides."

A quarter of Asia's mangroves are in Bangladesh. However, the tropical storm-exposed country's mangroves decreased by 19 per cent from 1992 to 2019, the report said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE