RAWALPINDI, April 11: The Asian Development Bank announced on Friday a new long-term strategic framework for 2008-2020 to move Asia and the Pacific to a higher level of economic development.

More than 600 million people in the region, about double the population of the United States, will live in absolute poverty defined as less than one dollar a day, reveals statistics released by the bank.

Through the strategy, ADB will contribute to improvements in both regional and global welfare. Ending poverty in the Asia and Pacific region would be a historic achievement and is necessary for achieving the MDGs at the global level.

The study says that challenges facing the region will require massive capital investments. Based on an internal ADB study, an estimated $4.7 trillion will be needed over the next 10 years for the region’s infrastructure requirements. This figure comprises $3.1 trillion for new capacity and the balance for capacity replacement.

The estimated annual investment needs for environmental issues are as high as $100 billion, including $30 billion for renewable energy, $28 billion for adaptation to climate change, $14 billion for energy efficiency, and $8 billion for sustainable management of water resources.

Finance sector development requirements for the region are also likely to be sizeable, as an estimated $197 billion in investments will be needed for capitalising banks up to 2020 in South Asia alone.

For education, the financing shortfall, that must be covered to achieve the MDGs on universal primary education by 2015, has been estimated at $7 billion a year during 2001-2015.

Almost half of the world’s absolute poor live in South Asia alone. One of every two individuals in the region -- or 1.7 billion people -- remains poor, as measured against the $2 a day benchmark.

The majority of the poor in the region, including most of the absolute poor, are women. Women comprise the largest group among those excluded from the benefits of the region’s economic expansion, says the ‘Strategy 2020’.

In developing member countries (DMCs) eligible for funding from the Asian Development Fund (ADF), 100 million people -- 15 per cent of the population -- still live in absolute poverty, and almost 400 million people -- almost 60 per cent of the population -- subsist on less than $2 dollars a day.

In addition, 1.9 billion people in the region do not have access to basic sanitation.

By 2020, the percentage of people living on less than one dollar a day in the region could fall to 2 per cent, but this will require continued work to sustain the current high rates of GDP growth per capita, as well as additional effort to ensure that the poor are able to participate in, benefit from, and contribute to the growth process.

Population growth will require the creation of 420 million jobs by 2030 in a region where at least 500 million of the existing 1.7 billion workers are already unemployed or underemployed.

The Asian energy sector’s share of global carbon dioxide emissions have more than tripled from about 8 per cent in 1980 to about 28 per cent in 2005. The International Energy Agency forecasts that the region’s energy demand will double by 2015, says ‘Strategy 2020’.