Regional cooperation to promote the sharing of weather information, improved technologies and increased financial support are needed to combat the impacts of climate change in South Asia, experts said, according to AP. The recommendations came Saturday at the end of a six-day international conference on global warming and food security in South Asia. Results of global climate change, such as melting Himalayan glaciers, rising sea levels and frequent natural disasters are threatening food production and economic development in the South Asia region, the experts said. The region _ which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives _ is home to nearly a fifth of the world's people, and 40 percent of its poor. The region is prone to natural extremities like floods, drought, heat waves, frost freezes, desertification and soil salinization, which experts attribute to climate change. Bangladesh's interim leader, Fakhruddin Ahmed, said reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly by industrialized nations, and more funds to tackle climate change in poorer countries were critical. «Countries like Bangladesh will otherwise suffer the most from a problem to which we have contributed little,» Ahmed said. He also urged more research on new crop varieties that can withstand natural hazards like droughts and floods.
