Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Adapting to climate change -- a South African view

Some comments from Gareth Morgan, a member of Parliament in South Africa, from the Mail & Guardian (South Africa): ….Those countries or communities with the least capacity to adapt are the most vulnerable to climate change. The costs of adapting will be between $28-billion and $67-billion a year by 2030.

At present the world’s Adaptation Fund, set up using funds from a levy on Clean Development Mechanism Projects, is estimated to be worth only $36-million a year and is expected to rise to no more than $300-million a year by 2012. As a result, there is a significant funding gap, as the Adaptation Fund in its current manifestation will contribute only 1% of the funds required to help the world adapt to the climate change that is already likely to happen.

The difficult reality for politicians from the developed world, which is responsible for the majority of human-induced climate change, is that they are going to need to contribute significant resources to adaptation measures in the post-2012 climate framework. Further, any additional resources should not be allocated at the expense of current development aid.

Most of the legislators who are members of the G8+5 Climate Dialogue recommend that developed countries commit to compulsory financial payments to the Adaptation Fund, based on their respective abilities to pay.

Levies on carbon trading, a market which is likely to increase significantly in years to come, is another option.

Climate insurance is a further mechanism that will require significant research as an adaptation measure. Only about 4% of weather-related losses are covered in low-income countries. Barriers to increased insurance include cost and the lack of appropriate insurance-related products.

The recommendations by the G8+5 Climate Dialogue for the stimulation of insurance as a tool of adaptation include support for pilot projects at local, national and regional levels that make affordable insurance available to vulnerable governments and individuals, as well as improved information sharing and collection of weather data, climate predictive capacity and economic modeling data….

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