Climate change will bring more floods and extreme weather to Southeast Asia, according to a World Bank official on a visit to the region, where hundreds have died in severe inundation.
“What we are seeing is there are more floods, more extreme weather events, higher temperature, more variable rainfalls and we believe that is caused by climate change. And we should expect this to increase, sadly,” Andrew Steer, the World Bank’s special envoy for climate change, told reporters in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
Thailand’s worst floods in half a century have killed hundreds of people and damaged the homes and livelihoods of millions around the country.
In neighbouring Cambodia, the deadliest floods since 2000 have killed at least 247 people while more than 100 have died in Vietnam, mostly in the southern Mekong Delta.
Mr Steer, who cancelled plans to visit Thailand on his regional tour because of the disaster, said the floods there were “consistent with what we know to be true about climate change.”
The United Nations says climate change, fuelled by hydrocarbon-based energy systems, is the world’s most pressing environmental issue.
Meanwhile embattled Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra vowed to stay on and fight the country’s deadly flood crisis despite criticism of her handling of the disaster.
“People supported and voted for me so I want to continue my work to the best of my ability,” she told reporters when asked whether she was considering resigning.
The waters are now slowly closing in on the heart of Bangkok, a city of 12 million people, swamping major roads and threatening the downtown area’s luxury hotels, businesses and shopping malls.
Visiting a shelter for flood evacuees in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district, Ms Yingluck pleaded for understanding from the public.
“I want to ask for sympathy for all the officials who are working to fight the floodwaters, and as for me I will do my best and will listen to all suggestions,” she said.
Ms Yingluck, a political novice and sister of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who only came to power in August, has been under enormous pressure to tackle the three-month-old crisis.
Her administration has also come under fire for its confusing information about the extent of the flood threat.
The 44-year-old premier has shown signs of emotional strain in recent weeks but she hit back at critics who chided her for appearing teary-eyed during visits to flood-hit zones.
“My tears flow not because I am weak – otherwise I would not have come this far. I would have quit a long time ago,” she said on her way to another evacuation centre.