UN exec: Funds for climate change projects inadequate

ABS-CBN News: Developed nations have yet to put their money where their mouth is in their pledges to help poor countries survive the onslaught of climate change. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak that the financial assistance for the coping strategies of developing nations remains inadequate.

“The money is there, but it is not enough,” said de Boer, who was in Manila for a visit. The resources, to be pooled in an adaptation fund, were intended to help the most vulnerable countries establish measures which will help them weather climate change, such as the switch to more drought-resistant agricultural crops and the construction of sea walls.

The adaptation fund will come from a share of the proceeds of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM is a carbon reduction scheme under the Kyoto Protocol, where rich countries acquire carbon credits for financing clean energy projects.

Talks on the adaptation fund have so far been acrimonious because the money to be poured by developed nations initially stood at US$80 million to $300 million, a far cry from the $40 billion-$100 billion adaptation costs estimated by the UNFCCC. African countries are asking for $67 billion while Bolivia wants a whopping $700 billion....

From a 1555 woodcut, barter between Nordic people (to the left) and Russians (to the right). The Nordic people is offering dried pike fish, flour, axes, knives, scissors, cloth etc. The Russians offer skins, butter (?), arrows and bows etc.