5th Dec: Climate impacts5 December 2008
In the last few days there's been a lot of talk here about 'adaptation'.
Artwork showing the effects of climate change
What is adaptation?
Poorer countries face devastating effects of climate change including:
- Storms
- Floods
- Famines
- Droughts
Adaptation is how we talk about and deal with these effects.
Changes needed
If traditional crops can't survive any more farmers may have to switch to different ones. Or they may have to find new ways of watering them.
Due to higher temperatures and increased flooding malarial zones will shift and water-borne diseases will spread faster.
Broken promises
In 1992 industrialised countries agreed that they would compensate poorer countries to deal with this. They did this by signing a legal UN document about climate change.
But the pot of money set aside is still almost empty. It's only got $300 million in it even though the UN says $86 billion is needed annually.
Cause for concern
Yesterday I watched developed countries from across the world talk about the need to delay this issue. Norway and New Zealand joined the European Union in pushing for funding to be postponed.
This is a tactic used to avoid delivering on promises and legal obligations. But it's dangerous because it causes mistrust between richer and poorer nations.
Next steps
The UK Environment Minister Ed Miliband arrives here next week. I'll be pushing him to demonstrate real leadership on this.
We need to ensure adaptation funding is delivered now through the UN Adaptation Fund.
Otherwise this mistrust is stalling progress on the whole global climate deal.
