(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-03 16:37

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Japan hoped to focus on the environment, as well as health and development issues, when it assumes the presidency of the Group of Eight industrial nations next year.

"The Asia-Pacific region, which is enjoying remarkable development and prosperity, is also facing various problems related to water," Fukuda said.

"We have to say the situation is very serious, considering that a majority of water-related problems are concentrated on the region," he said.

The water summit coincides with the opening of a key international conference in the Indonesian island of Bali which is tasked with charting out a new action plan to fight global warming.

Rising temperatures are a particular concern in Asia as they are believed to contribute to the growing frequency of floods and storms, said Shuichi Hirayama, an official at the Asia-Pacific Water Forum which organised the meeting here.

"Past conferences on water-related disasters used to focus on water shortages, but the situation is changing in recent years because of global warming," he said.

The Asia-Pacific Water Summit is designed to take place every two to three years to improve coordination among experts and officials handling water problems that stretch beyond borders, Hirayama said.

Problems to be addressed here include the rise of sea levels - a life-or-death issue for small-island countries - and the shrinking of Himalayan glaciers, which are a key water source for South and Central Asia.

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