The "Up In Smoke" alliance, composed of about 20 major international environmental development organizations, warned in a statement yesterday that in the face of the threat of climate change to humans and the environment, unless immediate response measures and action, otherwise global warming will set back the social and economic development of the entire Asian region for decades. The Vanish Alliance, composed of the international public welfare organization Action Aid, the International Institute for Environmental Development in London, and Greenpeace, made the above statement in a press statement issued at a press conference in New Delhi yesterday. The press statement quoted the alliance's report titled "Evaporated: Asia-Pacific" as saying that several regions in Asia are already beginning to show the impact of climate change. For example, last month, a typhoon hit the southeastern coast of mainland China, affecting five million people. . According to a report cited by the Vanish Alliance established four years ago, Asia, which has more than two-thirds of the world's population, will bear the brunt of the consequences of climate change. In particular, more than half of Asia's population lives in coastal areas. Many Pacific island countries, such as Vanuatu, are already in crisis due to rising sea levels caused by fossil fuels. The alliance reports that 87 percent of the world's 400 million small-scale rural areas are known to be located in Asia. These rural areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change because they rely on regular and reliable rain. For example, droughts have increased in northern China, destroying the livelihoods of local farmers; in addition, ten counties in western mainland China have
