UN agency: Cut fuel consumption
The Asia-Pacific is leading the world in energy use which has grown since 1970 at a compounding annual growth rate of 3.9 per cent while in the rest of the world the growth rate was 1.4 per cent.
A report titled Resource Efficiency-Economics and Outlook for Asia, jointly prepared by UNEP, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), CSIRO (Australia), IGES (Japan) and Chinese Academy of Sciences, highlights that the region’s share of total primary energy supply grew from 19 per cent of the world total to over 35 per cent and will reach 50 per cent by 2028 according to current trends.
Consumption of coal by the Asia-Pacific countries has more than tripled from 1970 to 2005 while greenhouse gas emissions in Asia Pacific increased from 10 billion tonnes to 16 billion tonnes between 1990 and 2005.
Per capita consumption of minerals and fuels is also showing a rising graph in the Asia Pacific belt.
The report advocates that consumption rates be brought down. Sixty per cent of all fuels and minerals were being consumed were by China, 20 per cent were by India followed by Indonesia.
But the most alarming aspect of the report relates to how India, labelled as a water-stressed country, is witnessing increasing water withdrawal levels. With the total water withdrawal levels rising, both river basins and groundwater levels “will face severe stress by 2025”.
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