Some thoughts on HSBC Survey: Climate Change top concern for only 12% of Singaporeans
Karen Ng Business Times 27 Oct 10;
ONLY 12 per cent of Singaporeans cite climate change as their top concern, an HSBC survey has found. But if it is any consolation, the proportion is even lower in major countries France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Singaporeans are more concerned about the stability of the global economy, terrorism and pandemics, says the HSBC Climate Change Monitor, which was released yesterday.
This is the first time that Singapore is covered in the annual survey, which focuses on consumers’ attitude and behaviour towards climate change in the developed and developing world. The latest poll, conducted between Aug 25 and Sept 10, covered 15 countries, with at least a thousand consumers surveyed in each country.
In terms of government spending, some 53 per cent of Singaporeans felt that more should be spent on the economy than on climate change. Globally, the proportion is just 38 per cent.
Health care drew a bigger response, with 67 per cent agreeing that more should be spent on it than on climate change. The global figure is 56 per cent.
In terms of sentiment towards climate change, Singapore scores lower than the Asia-Pacific average. Just 34 per cent here believe that climate change warrants concern, compared to the region’s 41 per cent.
On the subject of tackling climate change, Singapore emerged among the top five countries that bank on government policies. About 57 per cent of Singaporeans feel that big-scale state-funded initiatives would be effective, while 48 per cent think that a carbon tax would be effective. Some 34 per cent favour emissions trading as a policy against climate change.
At the personal level, some 65 per cent of Singaporeans said that they prefer environmentally friendly businesses and products.
Reducing the use of heating and air-con appliances is the most popular way in Singapore for dealing with climate change, at 35 per cent; followed by recycling, 26 per cent; and energy-saving home improvements, 22 per cent.
HSBC chief executive officer Alex Hungate said: ‘When we recognise that we are all in this (climate change issue) together and that we must take concerted action, we can unlock the potential for positive change and make a real difference.’
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What’s wrong? A question of perceptions.
The problem is not that Singaporeans are ignorant about Climate Change. Most people probably know that Climate Change is happening, and that it will lead to ______. More the problem, is that this ______, is something that isn’t very concerning, or that there are other issues that are perceived to be more pressing.
So let’s take a look at the 3 “more pressing” issues that were cited in this survey (global economy, terrorism & pandemics), and I will briefly attempt to show how Climate Change ultimately has implications to these problems.
Global Economy
Climate Change will have an effect on Economies, and could cost nations 19% of their GDP by 2030 (although this number varies considerably, see here as well). The IMF cites that ASEAN, whose threat to food security and increased health risks (read: pandamic?) is higher, may possibly suffer a loss of more than 6 percent of gross domestic product each year. One example: Climate Change is likely to take away 25% of Vietnam’s GDP, due to rising sea levels and reduced food / crop output.
Also, it is predicted that Climate Change will lead to an increased frequency of natural disasters. This costs money, in humanitarian terms and the loss of resources, such as crops and land. For example, the recent floods in Pakistan which claimed 2000 lives, and flooded 20% of the entire country, is estimated to cost $43 Billion in total economic impact.
Yes, we cannot say that the floods in Pakistan was caused by climate change to a full degree of certainty, but when there’s a possibilty that we’ll be looking at such pictures more frequently in years to come, we can almost guarantee that there will be economic effects as well.
Terrorism
OK. By Terrorism, people are probably thinking about “Mas Salamat escaping from toilet and Singapore on high alert” type situations. But let’s define terrorism with a wider definition, to mean “political instability that will result in violence“. So in this regard, it’s probably quite obvious how climate change will lead to some political shoulder rubbing, to say the least.
A positive example would be the melting of the Polar Ice caps, which has revealed new shipping routes and fisheries, which of course, would be good for everyone. But here’s the other side of that issue: new areas that were previously hidden by ice are now opened up for oil exploration, and this is causing a dispute between the 5 countries that border the North Pole (Russia, U.S, Canada, Norway, and Denmark), all of whom want a piece of it. Thankfully, negotiations so far have been quite chilled, and there isn’t going to be some arctic war going to happen anytime soon.
The effects of climate change and a growing world population and economy, would mean that resources will become more and more scarce (or displaced), and we all know that a situation like that, has the potential to result in a foreign affairs issues. Now, I’m not attempting to equate climate change to war, but I think you get my drift.
Pandemics
According to WHO, “a change in climatic conditions can have three kinds of health impacts:
- Those that are relatively direct, usually caused by weather extremes.
- The health consequences of various processes of environmental change and ecological disruption that occur in response to climate change.
- The diverse health consequences – traumatic, infectious, nutritional, psychological and other – that occur in demoralized and displaced populations in the wake of climate-induced economic dislocation, environmental decline, and conflict situations.”
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One example / effect: In developing countries with poor sanitation increasing temperatures are associated with diarrheal diseases—caused by bacteria that replicate faster at higher temperatures. A study from Lima, Peru showed a clear correlation between daily temperatures and numbers of children with diarrheal diseases.
But of course, Singaporeans are probably a lot more concerned with diseases of the H1N1 variety, the sort that causes mass hysteria? Well here’s the thing, global travel is not slowing down anytime soon – Singapore tourism, in July 2010 had grown 24.1% to 1,095,000 visitors. The point is, the world is a very small place these days, a pandemic that originates somewhere, will likely show up everywhere else in the world.
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So I didn’t gloss through these issues in very much depth at all, but I think my point is clear:
Climate Change has a lot more to do with recycling our drink cans, animal welfare and how hot it is going to be in 2050. We have to cast our vision a little wider to understand that this is a global issue that we’re faced with, and that a very large proportion of humanity’s way of life will be drastically affected by the changes that will occur.
We need to be reminded, that our economies, politics and humanitarian concerns will universally be impacted by the damage that we do to the environment.
Climate Change should be framed as a human issue: The planet lives on no matter what, we on the other hand, are a lot more fragile.
