Businesses cold to climate change
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - A Filipino businessman, faced with shortages of blue crab delivered
to his food processing company, turned to a green-friendly solution to restore
the supply chain.
Alfonso Gamboa urged suppliers to catch crabs with baskets rather than gill
nets, which damage the crustaceans and waste part of the catch. The change
improved supplies and also helped to conserve crab numbers, which had begun to
dwindle thanks to seas warming as a result of climate change.
In Laos, a private company using solar, hydro and biomass as power sources
stepped in to supply power to remote areas beyond reach of the main electricity
grid. Sunlabob ''operates as a profitable, full-service energy provider'' and
has set its sights on
becoming the largest provider for ''renewable energy solutions''.
Yet these examples of successful responses to a changing world, singled out in
a report released this month, are few and far between in a region that is
vulnerable to climate change.
Companies that will be exposed to the ravages of dramatic shifts in the weather
and natural disasters are yet to join the wave seeking green business answers,
said the report, "Making Climate Your Business - Private Sector Adaptation in
Southeast Asia", brought out by the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
''The private sector has been slow to react,'' notes the 59-page publication.
''Thus far, business has shown less interest in addressing the impacts of
climate change in its operations than the public sector and civil society ...
Climate change presents several major challenges for business with operations
or customers/ suppliers in South-east Asia.''
The report was released in Bangkok to frame discussions at a conference on the
role of the Asia-Pacific business community in adapting to climate change.
''Distant climate impacts may affect business if suppliers' operations are
disrupted. Operational risks also come from disruptions to infrastructure - if
roads or railways are damaged or submerged, supplies cannot come in and
finished goods cannot go to the market.''
SIDA director general Anders Nordstron said at the conference, which drew
nearly 300 delegates from private corporations in the region, ''The train is
rolling and if you are not on board, companies may lose business opportunities
and politicians may lose votes.''
One area where the private sector was encouraged to take the lead is in
adaptation to climate change, where stress is placed on initiatives aimed at
minimizing its effects. Adaptation is one of the three main pillars that have
emerged in the ongoing global campaign triggered by a warming planet. The
others are mitigation and transferring environmental-friendly technology.
''It is in their own self-interest for businesses to take the issue of climate
change seriously,'' said Noeleen Heyzer, head of the Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), a Bangkok-based UN body that
co-hosted the conference. ''There are new opportunities to trade, new products,
green products.''
But the call for the private sector to take up the climate change challenge
cannot be an extension of a business-as-usual model, where there is little
change in the way companies pursue their economic interests. ''Companies need
to embrace the idea of green economics,'' said Sunita Narain, an Indian
environmentalist and director of the Center for Science and Environment. ''It
requires a new way of doing business itself."
Companies "will have to distinguish between the businesses of the past - the
dinosaur businesses - and the businesses of the future,'' she said. ''The
climate change challenge is to attract more businesses of the future,
reinvented businesses. We have still not understood the scale of the economic
transition that is needed.''
The real estate sector in Southeast Asian cities will have to reflect these new
currents, since in capitals such as Bangkok they enjoy ample freedom to
develop, with few limits placed on constructing environmentally sound
buildings.
''Many governments do not touch the real estate sector because it brings in a
lot of investment,'' says Ranjith Perera, professor of urban environmental
management at the Asian Institute of Technology, based north of the Thai
capital.
Such building booms have resulted in many cities in the region growing
horizontally, "with the line between urban and rural areas being blurred,'' he
told IPS. ''Mega-urbanization is the result.''
But the threat of climate change will leave many citizens in these urban
centers open to natural disasters resulting from hotter temperatures, rising
sea levels and floods. ''Major cities such as Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi
and Jakarta risk becoming submerged within this century,'' notes the SIDA
report.
The Philippines capital, Manila, is already grappling with another
climate-related problem, that of water scarcity. "In July 2007, a dry spell led
to severe water shortages in the city, causing electricity blackouts,'' the
report states.
The Thai tourist resort of Phuket has likewise been hit, facing ''water
shortages during peak seasons, creating tensions between local communities and
the tourist industry''.
''We are at the stage where many of the effects of climate change are
unavoidable, especially in Southeast Asia,'' said Kirk Herbertson of the
Washington D.C-based World Resources Institute. ''Business should acknowledge
the risks of climate change, but should also acknowledge the opportunities
climate change offers.''
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