Asia must act now to pave the way for green resource-friendly cities or face a bleak and environmentally degraded future, said a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.
In a special chapter of its flagship annual statistical publication, ‘Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2012,’ ADB examined the challenges and opportunities associated with the region’s breakneck urban boom. It also details measures needed to turn cities into environmentally sustainable, inclusive growth centers.
Since the 1980s, Asia has been urbanizing at a faster rate than anywhere else, with the region already home to almost half of all the world’s city dwellers, it said.
The report added that in just over a decade, it will have 21 of 37 mega-cities worldwide, and over the next 30 years another 1.1 billion people are expected to join Asia’s already swollen urban ranks.
This breakneck expansion has been accompanied by a sharp rise in pollution, slums, and widening economic and social inequalities, which are causing rapid environmental degradation.
Particularly disturbing are urban carbon dioxide emissions, which if left unchecked under a business-as-usual scenario, could reach 10.2 metric tons per capita by 2050, a level which would have disastrous consequences for both Asia and the rest of the world.
Rising urban populations mean that over 400 million people in Asians cities may be at risk of coastal flooding and roughly 350 million at risk of inland flooding by 2025.
Unless managed properly, these trends could lead to widespread environmental degradation and declining standards of living.