MANILA — Poorer countries that have borne the brunt of climate change’s effects will save, not lose, money by putting in place ways to rescue the environment, Al Gore said yesterday.

The former US vice president spoke to a forum in Manila in one of his first public engagements since he and his wife, Tipper, announced they had separated after 40 years of marriage. He would not answer audience questions about it, and reporters did not have an opportunity for interviews.

In the lecture focused on Asia, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate blamed global warming for droughts and frequent, more destructive typhoons, including those that have left millions homeless in India, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam over the last several years.

“When there are lots of them, much more frequently and they are bigger on average, how can we connect those dots?’’ he asked. “How long will it take us as a civilization to connect those dots in a way that causes us to demand that our political leaders and political systems react?’’

Gore said proposals to store carbon dioxide in the ground are expensive, and the best way to trap it is in plants. He added that China is a leader in this area, planting more trees than any other country.

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