Friday, July 2, 2010

Africa climate change adaptation needs major donor commitment

Voice of America: A new report says if Africa is going to adapt to climate change, donor countries must honor their pledge to help pay for it. The Africa Progress Panel report, Finance for Climate-Resilient Development in Africa, is called a road map leading to the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP16) in Cancun in December. The panel is chaired by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Last year’s Copenhagen Accord calls on developed countries to provide (US) $100-billion for climate change adaptation and mitigation for developing countries by 2020. Guido Schmidt-Traub, climate change advisor to the panel, is attending the Africa Energy Forum in Basel, Switzerland, where the report was released Wednesday.

“The main message is that responding to climate change and development are really two sides of the same coin. And they need to be looked at together,” he says. “The tools are known to address the challenges…of adaptation and mitigation and of course development. What is lacking in many places now is financing.”

Donors are “far behind” in fulfilling their funding commitments, according to Schmidt-Traub….

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