$30bn climate change aid needed for poor nations

Gordon Brown has told the United Nations that $30 billion will be needed for the world’s poorest countries to deal with the effects of climate change.

Speaking in New York, Gordon Brown said international public finance should meet a significant proportion of this figure.

Mr Brown was among world leaders attending a climate change summit called by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ahead of December’s conference in Copenhagen.

The UK is also calling on developed countries to ensure that climate funding for poor countries includes finance over and above existing aid commitments.

The announcement comes as DFID launches a new photo package showing ways in which UK aid is helping poor communities in Bangladesh adapt to climate change.

Core Facts

The UK government is committed to helping poor communities withstand the effects of climate change. DFID is already funding adaptation projects, such as those in Bangladesh, and we have committed £800 million to the Climate Investment Funds, including £225 million for adaptation over the next three years
What is adaptation?

Regardless of efforts to cut global emissions, the world is now locked into some global warming due to past emissions. This is causing impacts such as flood, drought and sea level rise which are hitting poor countries the hardest. That is why it’s important that developing countries are able to adapt to the impacts, for example by:

better managing water supply and storage

ensuring homes, schools and hospitals are more flood resistant

using new crops that are more drought resistant
To make this possible, governments need to agree funding for adaptation as part of a global climate change deal, due to be agreed in Copenhagen this December.

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Quotes

Prime Minister Gordon Brown

“Climate change is a terrible injustice. It has been caused almost entirely by the richest countries, but its earliest and most damaging effects will fall - and are already falling - on the poorest.”