ADB: Indonesia's economy under threat from climate change

JAKARTA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's efforts toward sustainable development, poverty eradication and a stronger economy are under serious threat from climate change, according to an ADB report quoted by the Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The report said climate change would increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and tropical cyclones.

The climate change "is exacerbating water shortages, constraining agricultural production, threatening food security, triggering forest fires, coastal degradation and increasing health risks," it added.

Rainfall would also decline in the next 20 to 30 years in Indonesia, the report claimed.

"Climate change seriously threatens Indonesia's economic development. The worst is yet to come," ADB assistant chief Juzhong Zhung said in the report, adding that combating climate change required urgent action on both adaptation and mitigation as soon as possible.

The report also warned that hundreds of small islands across the country are under serious threat of sinking as climate change contributes to rising sea levels.

Indonesia has 5.8 million square kilometers of sea with coastlines stretching 81,000 kilometers, which serve as home to millions of people.

Data from the Indonesian Ministry of Environment shows that 65 percent of people on Java, Indonesia's most populous island, live in and around coastal areas. The country also has about 17,500 small islands.