Climate justice: Scotland pioneers new fund to help poor countries with adaptation

Chris Hegarty in the Ecologist: After leading the way on climate legislation with the 2009 Climate Change Act, the Scottish government are now putting their money where their mouth is with the creation of the Climate Justice Fund to pay for developing country adaption projects

The sheer injustice of the situation is inescapable. Countries where the impact of climate change is most pronounced are those with the least responsibility for causing the problem in the first place. ...The Scottish Government announced that it was to set up a Climate Justice Fund after what was said to be ‘the first ever parliamentary debate on the concept world-wide.'

Innovative and based on the priorities of the communities whose interests it is being established to serve, the fund will finance measures such as early-warning weather systems and the introduction of drought resistance crops and agricultural techniques.

Although relatively small, its very existence, and even the fund's name, make an important point. They underline the fact that climate change IS an issue of justice - historical, international, and inter-generational.

Scotland's recognition of this, and willingness to take steps to put it right, is in keeping with its widespread acceptance of the need to do something urgent about climate change....