![]() It not only must adapt to climate change caused largely by greenhouse gases emitted over decades by advanced economies-and more recently by developing economies such as China and India-it also must alter development strategies that are increasingly contributing to global warming. Governments are under pressure to act quickly or risk giving up improvements in living standards achieved through decades of export-driven growth. Long coastlines and heavily populated low-lying areas make the region of more than 640 million people one of the world’s most vulnerable to weather extremes and rising sea levels associated with global warming. Typhoons and floods are becoming more intense and frequent as Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia bear the brunt of climate change. “Last year people had to escape in boats because the water was too high.” “Every time we get big rains or typhoons, it floods and everything shuts down for three to four days,” says Nam, 65, who goes by one name. ![]() Patrons scurried to safety as pots and pans floated by. Last November, days before presidents and prime ministers arrived in nearby Da Nang for a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the water level at the Blue Dragon rose to 1.6 meters (5.25 feet) when typhoon-driven rains lashed the city. On its damp-stained walls, the Blue Dragon’s owner, Nam, marks the level of annual floods that submerge this popular UNESCO World Heritage town renowned for its bright-yellow-painted buildings. ![]() The Blue Dragon, a small riverfront eatery in Hoi An, Vietnam, serves morsels of local trivia to tourists along with $2 plates of crisp spring rolls and succulent noodles. ![]() One of the most vulnerable regions to climate change is witnessing the world’s biggest jump in greenhouse gas emissions ![]()
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