Full Report - Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia - escap

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 2013
42% of the global economic losses due to natural
disasters (ESCAP and UNISDR, 2012). The cost of the
2011 floods in Thailand, for example, was estimated
at $45 billion, and recovery and reconstruction at $25
billion (Tang, 2011), while GDP declined by 9% in
the last quarter of 2011 compared with the previous
year (Thailand, 2012). These losses will continue
as climate change deepens and accelerates. ADB
estimates that in South-East Asia, the economic cost
of climate change could be equivalent to a loss of
6.7% of GDP per year by 2100 – more than twice
the world average (ADB, 2009).
Economic losses are just one facet of the implications
of resource-intensive growth patterns
for development. The ESCAP-ADB-UNEP joint
publication, Green Growth, Resources and Resilience
(ESCAP, ADB and UNEP, 2012) points out that
while there is need to continue to elevate the
standard of living, this must be achieved based
on resource efficient, rather than resource-intensive
growth strategies. In a context of high and volatile
resource prices and increasingly evident resource
constraints, a resource-intensive growth pattern
translates to an economy with higher exposure to
risk, especially for the most vulnerable in society.
Resource efficiency is increasingly an economic
risk management strategy on both economic and
social fronts. This is acknowledged in national
development strategies in the Asia-Pacific region
as well as elsewhere.
Figure 1.28 highlights the growing dependence of
each subregion of the Asia-Pacific region with the
exception of the Pacific subregion (which includes
Australia) on resources sourced from other parts of
the world. This dependence presents an emerging
source of vulnerability – the vulnerability of the
economy to disasters or other events that may
constrain access to resources increasingly sourced
from other parts of the world.
Resource-intensive growth is a result of a combination
of factors, including lack of access to
resource efficient technologies. There are also policy
failures, such as fiscal policies and market prices
that do not reflect the true cost of resources or
the pollution that resource use generates, as well
as over-emphasis on resource-intensive exportled
growth. An analysis of the factors that have
contributed to resource-intensive growth also shows
that technological advances have not led to efficiency
improvements and are highly unlikely to mitigate
future environmental pressures. Fiscal incentives
for sustainable production and consumption, public
investment in innovation of resource efficient and
green technologies and expanding access to basic
services based on resource-efficient models are
Figure 1.28. Physical trade balances in Asia-Pacific subregions, 1975, 1990 and 2005
Asia-Pacific
Pacific
South-East Asia
South and South-West Asia
2005
1990
1975
North and Central Asia
East and North-East Asia
-18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2
Tonnes per capita
Sources: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and UNEP Asia Pacific Material Flows database.
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