Climate change: a key focus of new poverty action plan

Tackling climate change, which is threatening the lives of millions of people in the world’s least developed countries, is a key priority for the Department for International Development (DFID).

The department has committed to tackling climate change as part of Building our Common Future, a wide-ranging action plan for DFID’s work, which details its pledges to help developing countries adapt to climate change as well as promoting green and sustainable growth.

This week marks the launch of DFID’s Bangladesh country plan, reaffirming our commitment of £75 million to protect 15 million of the world’s poorest people from the devastating impact of climate change.

The UK is also working hard with Governments around the world to secure a fair global deal at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in December.

Core Facts

A climate crisis is already upon us, hitting poor countries first and hardest. 250 million people are already affected by climate-related disasters every year.
By 2080, at current levels of temperature increases, an extra 600 million people worldwide could be affected by malnutrition, 400 million more people could be exposed to malaria and 1.8 billion more people could be living without enough water.
Bangladesh is an example of the challenge already posed by climate change. A fifth of its land could disappear if seas levels rise by one metre. This would destroy crops and livestock, spread disease and leave 30 million people homeless.
As part of our plan to tackle climate change, we will:
• Push for a fair global deal at the UN Copenhagen climate change summit to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2°C
• Provide extra climate funding beyond existing aid commitments
• Invest £100 million in climate change research over the next five years
• Help to supply households in developing countries with clean energy and renewable energy
• Support more than 11 countries, including Bangladesh, to adapt to climate change: building flood protections, developing hydropower and planting climate resilient crops

Read more on our White Paper climate change commitments

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Quotes

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander

Climate change is a development issue. It is the world’s poorest people that are most vulnerable to the rising sea levels and extreme weather that a changing climate will bring, and it is vital that our work in tackling poverty reflects this.

We have made great strides over the past decade in tackling global poverty but there is much still to do. The economic downturn has had a devastating effect on the developing world, whilst millions live surrounded by conflict and violence. And we must face up to the havoc climate change could cause in the poorest countries.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband

To fight global poverty successfully we must also fight for an ambitious global climate deal at Copenhagen this December.

The Prime Minister’s recent climate finance proposal puts the developing world at the centre of the global deal – ensuring that those poorest countries are given the help to deal with the consequences of climate change, but also help them grow in a low carbon way.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown (speaking at the launch of the Road to Copenhagen Paper, 26 June 2009)

The UK is determined to secure an international agreement at Copenhagen that puts the world on a path to avoiding dangerous climate change. All countries have to take action, but to help developing countries move to low-carbon and climate-resilient growth we will need a new system of financial support for greener technology, deforestation and adaptation.