Mohammed Hanif with his son, Riaz and wife, Nilofa in the wreckage of their house which was completely destroyed by Cyclone Sidr in south Bangladesh. The family survived by clinging to the upper branches of the tree behind them where, tragically, their daughter, Isha, was swept out of her fathers arms.
At least $50 billion per year needed to help developing countries adapt
A call for legally-binding funding to help poor countries adapt to climate change has been made at the start of a second week of crucial make-or-break climate change negotiations between 190 countries in Bali, Indonesia.
The plea comes in a new report, Adaptation and the post-2012 Framework, from UK relief and development agency Tearfund. It states that for too long addressing the effects of climate change has been wrongly treated as a separate and secondary issue to that of cutting emissions. And it calls for adaptation to be a ‘fundamental, top-level priority, not an add-on’ in negotiations on the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
Says Sarah La Trobe, Senior Policy Officer at Tearfund: “Adaptation has been woefully neglected for too long, with no binding obligation on developed countries to fund adaptation. This must now change because desperately-needed finance for adaptation programmes in vulnerable communities has not materialised.”
The report estimates that at least $50 billion per year is required to help developing countries adapt to the ravages of climate change. Funding options to be explored must include a tax on emissions, a levy on all the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. Additional sources of revenue may need to be found and channelled through the Adaptation Fund.
Adaptation and the post-2012 Framework argues that Parties to the Convention must adopt a radically improved approach to adaptation in the post-2012 framework, including:
- Firmly linking adaptation and mitigation negotiation tracks – so that key negotiations and decisions on the two issues are not made in isolation from each other.
- Awarding adaptation equal status with mitigation – this would include creating a legally-binding commitment to fund adaptation, and ensuring that funding levels are adequate to address the scale of need.
The report states that in the light of the widely accepted consequences of a 1-2 degree global temperature rise, including water stress for hundreds of millions of people, lower crop yields in South America & Africa and sea-level rises of 1-3 metres this century, a more comprehensive response is needed than at present, including:
- a clear definition of adaptation agreed under the Convention.
- adaptation to be focused on the most vulnerable communities and countries.
- adaptation to be incorporated into national development plans, poverty reduction strategies, sectoral policies and strategies.
On the question of adequate funding, Sarah La Trobe says:” Calculating the cost of adaptation is fiercely complex, but concrete figures need to be brought into the UNFCCC negotiations in order to make meaningful progress towards ensuring that funding matches the scale of the need.”
Sarah La Trobe concludes: ”There are strong economic, moral and political imperatives for adopting a radical new approach to adaptation in the post-2012 framework.”