Poorest parts of the world will be hit first and worst by climate change
Posted by John Malloy on 11/25/2009
It is becoming clear that people in the poorest parts of the world will be hit first and worst by climate change. Many leaders are promising to help people living in extreme poverty adapt to the effects of climate change and to help reduce emissions. This sounds great, but unfortunately, on closer examination, it turns out most of this money could be double counted—it’s money that has already been promised as development aid.
In other words, some governments want to stretch their much-needed development funding twice as far to try and cover the new challenges presented by climate change. This dangerous double counting needs be exposed—and it needs to stop.
We’re fighting this trend by asking Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen to take the lead as host of the Copenhagen climate change summit in December and set a standard for climate change financing to be transparent and additional to current aid commitments.
Please take action by adding your name to the ONE petition:
http://www.one.org/international/actnow/copenhagen/o.pl?id=1313-4087814-sIPOlAx&t=3
Petition text:
As part of the Copenhagen climate agreement, please ensure:
1. That existing aid promises are kept.
2. That additional costs borne by people living in poverty caused by climate change are paid for by additional money.
3. That countries are transparent about how much development aid is being reallocated to fighting climate change.
Sadly too many times in the past multibillion dollar pledges have in fact involved double and even treble counting of pre-existing promises, leaving people in developing countries no better off. Such behaviour in Copenhagen will only compound the injustice already being perpetrated by climate change, and further question the integrity of developed industrialised nations in the eyes of the rest of the developing world. With integrity and action now, this can be avoided, and we can go on to be the generation that beats both poverty and climate change.
Please help by adding your name to the petition:
http://www.one.org/international/actnow/copenhagen/o.pl?id=1313-4087814-sIPOlAx&t=5
There are some good guys out there. For example, The Netherlands has committed to give 0.7% of their Gross National Income to development and an additional 0.1% to sustainable development, and the UK has promised that no more than 10% of the resources the UK currently offers for development will be used to help the poor fight climate change. This transparency is welcome, and hopefully we can encourage other countries to follow suit.
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