Kathmandu, Oct. 14
South Asia’s handling of COVID-19
crisis reveals a dysfunctional regional cooperation mechanism to deal with the
trans-boundary crisis implying a need for a revitalized regional cooperation to
deal with the climate crisis, experts said.
Speaking in a virtual meeting organized by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and
Environment (SAWTEE), they
emphasized that COVID-19 has diverted efforts away from climate action, which,
if not corrected, will have devastating consequences for the region that remains
highly vulnerable to the detrimental impacts of climate change.
Dr. Prabhu Budhathoki,
Former Member of National Planning Commission of Nepal said that the current
pandemic had made it clear that the regional cooperation mechanism in South
Asia did not function well at the time of crisis,
"Hence, our
governance mechanism has to change if we are to wage an effective fight against
the climate change," he said.
Dr. Eklabya Sharma, Deputy Director General
of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
emphasized that South Asia, primarily given the significant presence of mountain
regions, is one of the most vulnerable regions when it comes to climate change.
"Higher population density and the
presence of large number of impoverished populations exacerbate the
vulnerabilities in the region," he said.
Dr. Sharma further mentioned that the dire effects
of climate change are already visible in the region in the forms of increased
occurrence of floods, glacial lake outbursts, landslides, heat waves, and a
general degradation of the ecosystem, and warned that a sole focus on COVID-19
at the expense of climate issues is the biggest challenge confronting the
region.
Citing Pakistan’s
experience in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and lessons learnt through it, Dr.
Shafqat Kakakhel, Chair of SDPI, Islamabad and Former Deputy Executive
Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), highlighted four key
elements that South Asia has to strengthen to deal with climate
change—resilience to deal with disasters; institutional arrangement for
domestic, regional, and international coordination; identification of the most
vulnerable communities and rapid dispatch of support to them; and effective use
of information technology and social media to inform people.
He said that SAARC had launched
many initiatives to foster regional cooperation on climate change issues but
poor implementation rendered them inefficacious.
Dr. Athula Senaratne,
Research Fellow and Head of Environment Economic Policy Research at Institute
of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, warned that COVID-19 impacts could crowd out
the climate finance for several years and hence slow the developments that had
gradually been building up in South Asia.
He also pointed out that
climate action was currently a peripheral issue in the region and until it became
a mainstream issue there would not be effective collective responses to deal
with the climate crisis.
“The current pandemic has
highlighted the interconnected nature of global systemic risk and it has
exposed significant vulnerabilities, including in food systems,” mentioned Dr.
Lopa Saxena, Research Fellow, Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience,
Coventry University, UK.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily 15 October 2020.
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