Not long ago, Azerbaijan's national oil company SOCAR wasted nearly half a billion cubic meters of natural gas a year. That is because a lot of natural gas escapes when oil is extracted from below ground, and SOCAR failed to capture it, either releasing or burning it. In the process known as flaring, one fifth of the gas released during Azerbaijan’s oil production went up in flames.

During more than 150 years of oil production, wasting gas was not considered to be an environmental or economic problem. Consequently, Azerbaijan did not have procedures in place for recovering this valuable by-product and turning into a commodity.

Read more: http://go.worldbank.org/U5UYWWBQR0

The latest issue of ADB's quarterly magazine explores the concept of green growth: the embracing of environmentally sound and sustainable policies with the need to maintain high economic growth. It features an exclusive interview with leading expert Ashok Khosla, who takes a hard look at the promises and failings of green growth. Also, it highlights pioneering efforts to deliver medicine through a soda company's distribution network.

Read more: http://adb.org/publications/going-green-why-asia-moving-toward-green-mod...

This report—Green Growth, Resources, and Resilience—describes an evolving policy landscape characterized by a changing economic reality, rising demand for resources, increasingly apparent impacts of environmental and climate change, and increased risk and uncertainty. The report provides new insights into Asian and Pacific resource use trends and outlines key actions, including reforming economic incentives and promoting more inclusive and adaptive governance approaches, that governments can pursue to help bring economic growth strategies in closer alignment with the objective of sustainable development. It also provides examples of strategies for improving resilience to help deal with the increasing levels of risk faced by societies and economies.

Read more: http://adb.org/publications/green-growth-resources-and-resilience

This publication examines the problems and issues of urban transport in relation to climate change in the People’s Republic of China. It reviews international and local best practices for addressing such challenges. It also identifies policies, strategies, and measures to reduce CO2 emissions from the transport sector and recommends applicable options for implementation in the People’s Republic of China.

Read more: http://adb.org/publications/urban-transport-strategy-combat-climate-chan...

Climate change will increase the frequency of extreme weather events, making more geographic places inhospitable to human habitation and secure livelihoods. This report presents a detailed picture of the potential impacts of climate change on migration in Asia and the Pacific. It draws upon a wealth of research to provide policy makers with informed analysis of an emerging phenomenon requiring urgent attention by governments and the international community. The report also suggests that climate-induced migration should be seen not only as a threat to human well-being but also as a potential tool to promote human adaptation to climate change.

Read more: http://beta.adb.org/publications/addressing-climate-change-and-migration...

World Bank Group President Robert B Zoellick begins an official visit to India tomorrow, to see what more it can do to support government efforts to overcome poverty, as India embarks on its 12th five-year Plan and global recovery remains fragile.

“The Bank’s partnership with India, one of our founding members, goes back six decades, and we look forward to sustaining it in the years ahead,” Zoellick said in a statement.

Read more: http://business-standard.com/india/news/world-bank-chief-in-india-focusp...

A vulnerable ethic minority village inside Cambodia’s remote Seima Protection Forest today became one of the first in Cambodia to receive a collective land title, which will help villagers fend off threats to their land and culture while also strengthening conservation goals.

Read more: http://www.newswise.com/articles/conservation-helps-secure-land-rights-in-cambodia

Having attended both the first Asian Adaptation Forum in 2010 as well as the second this month, I am quite sure (based on my work on adaptation globally) that Asia leads the world on the practice, planning and knowledge generation of adaptation to climate change. I give a few examples below to demonstrate why this is so.

Read more: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=226406

Chairman Intellectual Property Organization Pakistan, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, has emphasised on initiating adaptation and mitigation projects in Pakistan to combat the climate change reactions. Afridi MNA participated in International Meeting of Parliamentarians on Climate Change held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

He had detailed bilateral talks with the parliamentarians of most vulnerable countries and discussed the confronting issues being faced by the affected countries. He stressed the need for collaborated efforts to address the environmental problems and said that government of Pakistan had approved the climate change policy which has been designed after a detailed discussion with stakeholders and experts.

Read more: http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=145606

The vulnerability of Pacific Island countries to climate change has been the subject of significant media coverage, including Kiribati’s recent request that its people be moved to Fiji to avoid rising seas.

However, despite this widespread awareness, until recently there has been limited reliable detailed scientific information available to these countries. A major new report recently released by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO is helping to fill this gap. It provides the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date of climate change in the Pacific region.

Read more: http://theconversation.edu.au/climate-change-and-the-future-of-our-pacif...