Manila - The Asian Development Bank said Thursday that it approved a 5-million-dollar grant to help Central and West Asia address the impacts of climate change.

The Manila-based bank said the assistance would fund a project to promote investments in energy efficiency, fuel switching, industrial processes, renewable energy, improved waste-management systems and land restoration.

"Climate change is taking its toll on the region with declining crop yields, retreat of glaciers, increased diseases and heat stress, and changes in ecosystem functions," bank environmental specialist Mark Kunzer said.

Kunzer warned that in the future, climate change was expected to also impact land and water resources and consequently agriculture, leading to problems with water and food security.

"The region needs immediate investments to reduce risks from increased flooding, drought, dust storms and other consequences of climate change," the bank said.

The bank noted that most Central and West Asian countries were low greenhouse-gas emitters but are also among the most carbon-intensive economies in the world.

It said the project would also work toward promoting climate change policy dialogue and developing fully functional climate change institutions.

"At present, national climate change coordination councils, climate change coordination centres and designated national authorities in Central and West Asia are not well-developed and often rely on donor assistance," the bank said.

It said the governments of Central and West Asian countries included in the project would shoulder a balance of 500,000 dollars needed to complete funding for the project.