Staying afloat

Editor's note: In this weekly feature China Daily gives voice to Asia and its people. The stories presented come mainly from the Asia News Network (ANN), of which China Daily is among its 20 leading titles.

To the rest of the world, Pari Island may be just another of the thousands of islands that make up the vast Indonesian archipelago with some of them so tiny they do not have names.

But nonprofit Friends of the Earth Indonesia is fighting for more visibility for the plight of its 1,500 inhabitants, who are facing the loss of their homes and fishery livelihoods as sea levels rise.

The island was partially inundated an unprecedented 10 times last year by exceptionally high tides.

Island communities in Southeast Asia, like those on Pari, have long grappled with worsening climate impacts but often find it difficult to access the funds they need to become resilient against floods and typhoons. Countries in the region also need assistance to phase out coal.

But the recently concluded COP29 UN climate change conference could offer some hope, with developed countries agreeing to channel $300 billion a year to developing countries by 2035. The ultimate aim is to raise $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for countries in need, through various forms of finance.

The $300 billion core amount was still criticized as woefully insufficient by climate-vulnerable countries and civil society, who expected richer countries — considered the historical emitters — to commit more.

It is also uncertain how the amount will be raised. While developed countries will take the lead, the COP29 decision stated that the amount will come from "a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources".

Gao Xi, a research associate at the Energy Studies Institute, or ESI, under the National University of Singapore, said: "Most Southeast Asian countries are coastal, making them particularly vulnerable to threats such as typhoons, floods and droughts caused by climate change. Frequent extreme weather events often result in significant financial losses and social disruptions."

In 2024 alone, the Philippines was struck by six typhoons within a span of 30 days — between October and November — killing more than 170 people, displacing more than 214,000 people and causing damage worth about 470 million pesos ($8.1 million). While the archipelago is prone to tropical storms, such back-to-back typhoons within a month is unusual.

As most countries in Southeast Asia are still developing and have relatively weak economic foundations, climate finance is necessary for the region to take climate action, added Gao, with funds particularly needed for clean energy generation and low-carbon transport.

According to the International Energy Agency, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations area will need $21 billion in investments annually from 2026 to 2030 just to upgrade its energy infrastructure. To build resilience against climate impacts, the region needs $422 billion until 2030.