South Korea Plans to Spend $100 Million on Asian Water Projects

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(Bloomberg) -- South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, plans to invest about $100 million by 2012 to help Asian developing countries cope with water shortages and floods.

The funds will come from the $200 million that President Lee Myung Bak has pledged to provide to neighboring nations for adapting to climate change and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, Park Heung Kyeong, a counselor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said today in an interview.

Asia, with half the world’s population, has less available fresh water than any continent except Antarctica, Suzanne DiMaggio, director at the Asia Society, said in April. Glacier runoff is the primary water source for many nations in the region, and they are shrinking with climate change.

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