Friday, November 18, 2011

Experts advise on managing climate change aid billions

Terra Daily via AFP: A group of climate science experts recommended measures Thursday to manage billions of dollars earmarked to help poor countries fight climate change, and avoid problems common among aid programs.

Pledges of aid for climate change are as significant as the Marshall Plan to fix Europe's economy after World War II, said Simon Donner in a paper published the journal Science, but warned "if it's not managed well we could waste a lot of money and a lot of people could not get the aid they need."

Three main recommendations, said Donner and his two co-authors, include ongoing, independent assessments to ensure climate change aid is new, and donors are not merely shifting resources from other, existing, aid programs.

They also urged the appointment of independent auditors from outside agencies to oversee spending and monitor waste, and the use of scientific methods to choose projects, such as the kind of evidence-based tests to measure effectiveness in the public health field....

A German stamp commemorating development aid

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