Climate report paints dismal picture for region
As much of the country grapples with crippling floods, a comprehensive report on global climate change released yesterday predicts the situation could be poised to get even worse.
According to the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as the planet grows warmer, cyclones making landfall around the Gulf of Thailand will dump even greater rains than they have in the past.
The report is the fifth of its kind, and one of the most thorough climate reports ever compiled.
Though the frequency of cyclones is projected to remain the same, or perhaps even decrease, the storms will nonetheless become more severe, with a “likely increase in … cyclone maximum wind speed and rain rates”. …
Deadly floods are a near-perennial issue in Cambodia. So far this year, nearly 50 have died. Flooding in 2011 claimed 250 lives, and destroyed thousands of homes. While not as deadly, floods in 1996 affected 1.3 million people, and killed 170.
On a more mundane level, heavy downpours in the capital can leave more than a metre of standing water in the streets due to poor drainage systems that have been the target of ongoing renovations. …
While more studies are needed to assess the effect on Cambodia specifically, the impact of these climate trends will be “more negative than positive”, Tin Ponlok, deputy director general of the Ministry of Environment’s climate change office, said. …
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/climate-report-paints-dismal-picture-region
