Asia wants climate deal, Obama crucial: survey

Residents ride a tricycle past a chemical plant in Baokang, Hubei province September 7, 2009.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - More than half the people in Asia believe sealing a new climate deal later this year depends on the leadership of U.S. President Barack Obama, according to a survey released on Thursday by conservation group WWF.

The survey, based on more than 6,000 respondents in August, found that 53 percent believed an agreement on a broader U.N. climate pact at a December meeting in Copenhagen hinged on Obama.

Fifteen percent said leadership by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was critical and 14 percent saw Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a key figure.

"People in developing Asia think a few countries can make all the difference," said Kim Carstensen, head of the WWF's Global Climate Initiative.

"If the U.S., China and India live up to the huge leadership potential Asians see in them, Copenhagen can deliver a global deal that protects the world from runaway climate change," he said in a statement. WWF and Greenpeace Southeast Asia were among the groups that commissioned the survey by Synovate.

The United States never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012, and never signed up to binding emissions curbs agreed to by 37 other industrialised nations.

Under Obama, Washington has set a target to reduce emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and the Senate is working on emissions trading laws.

Getting the support of the United States, the world's second greenhouse gas emitter after China, is seen as crucial to any deal to expand Kyoto. China, India and Indonesia are key because of huge populations, growing emissions and booming economies.

More than 70 percent of those polled said rich nations should lead the fight against climate change. But 68 percent said major developing countries should also join the effort.

Nearly 80 percent said they wanted their own governments to act to reduce the risks from climate change.

Thirty-two percent expressed concern over water shortages, with 31 percent worried about worsening health, followed by loss of plant and animal species at 20 percent and food shortages by 17 percent.

A total of 39 percent said an end to deforestation was the top step to achieve a stable climate, while 28 percent wanted the energy sector to increase the use of renewable energy.

The poll was issued ahead of three international meetings devoted at least in part to climate change and major U.N. talks in Bangkok from the end of the month. Those polled were from China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

(Reporting by David Fogarty, editing by Ron Popeski)