Friday, April 15, 2011

Billions in climate funds for Pacific islands still immobile

Tevita Motulalo in Taimi Network Online: Representatives of ten Pacific governments are in Palau to discuss strategies for greater access to international funds committed to Climate Change adaptation today in Palau. Rich countries promised to mobilising a $10 billion a year ‘Fast Start’ program between 2010 and 2012 to help buffer the poorest countries from the effects of global warming, in the Climate Summit of 2009 in Copenhagen.

The funds have not really reached communities that need them, especially in the Pacific. The Director of the South Pacific’s Regional Environment Program (SPREP) David Sheppard says things are moving as expected. “The delivery of these funds have been slower than anticipated,” he said to Tonga Chronicle.

He said the overarching priority is to ensure adequate finance are available to implement practical and relevant actions according to national priorities. A whopping $100 billion was set as a “goal” for developed countries to provide per year by 2020 to support developing countries climate change efforts, while the developing nations including most of the Pacific islands, were committed to provide $30 billion for adaptation and mitigation….

Aerial view of Neiafu Island, Vavaʻu Islands, Tonga, shot by Stefan Heinrich (Msdstefan at de.wikipedia), Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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