Africa a big loser if climate finance is not additional
Africa will lose out if money pledged by rich countries at the Copenhagen climate change meeting last December does not come in addition to their existing aid promises. This is the stark message in a research paper from leading development think tank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), commissioned by ONE.
The report states that if finance for climate change adaptation were to come from existing and promised aid flows it would necessarily result in a money being taken away from health and education, and reallocated to sectors such as agriculture, coastal defence and water.
While sub-Saharan Africa receives 38% of global aid, the World Bank estimates that their share of adaptation needs is 22% – in part because there is less expensive existing infrastructure to protect. ODI conclude that “It is crucial to underline the importance of additionality of climate finance to aid. If this is not explicitly stated and implemented, the possibility of aid diversion allocated according to adaptation needs is likely to lead to the neglect of aid to Africa.”
The findings come just days after Bill Gates warned in his annual letter that health funding could be cut if the $100bn target set at Copenhagen took money out of other development priorities. “If just 1% of the $100bn goal came from vaccine funding, then 700,000 more children could die from preventable diseases” he wrote. If countries do not avoid this type of dangerous double counting, the already off track Millennium Development Goals will be dealt another heavy blow.
The millions of people around the world who took action in the run-up to Copenhagen, including tens of thousands of ONE members, will now be needed more than ever as we attempt to make sure that vital work on climate does not come at the expense of the world’s poorest people.
Read the report ‘Climate financing and Development – Friends or foes?’
Update: The Financial Times today published a letter from ONE’s co-founder and Executive Director Jamie Drummond on this important issue. Read the letter here.
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The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
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27/01/2010 at 11:29 am
Quanto ao Meio Ambiente: Todos sabemos que a questão climática virou um marketing industrial. E a COP15 não foi satisfatória. Precisamos cobrar dos nossos governantes atitudes sustentáveis, leis que ampare o meio ambiente e cobrar de nós mesmo, uma educação ambientais. O meio ambiente não precisa de dinheiro, precisa de mudança de atitude!
Os investimentos políticos tem que ser direcionados para a ação social, com objetivos claros de melhoria na saúde e educação de um povo.Precisamos cobrar para que estes recursos sejam destinados para o povo da África, na compra de medicamentos e alimentos.
How much to the Environment: All we know that the climatic question turned an industrial marketing. E the COP15 was not satisfactory. We need to charge of our presidents sustainable attitudes, an education for the preser ambient. The environment does not need money, needs attitude, of the change!
The investments politicians have that to be directed for the social action, with clear objectives of improvement in the health and education of a people. We need to charge so that these resources are destined for the people of Africa, in the purchase of medicines and foods.
31/01/2010 at 9:54 pm
Hi. Love your enthusiasm for generating awareness…but…
The current fetish for “stopping” global warming works directly against the very people you are trying to assist. More to the point, global warming (the latest “cool” crisis) will (even if completelty implemented) have a negligible impact on the climate but will divert billions (trillions?) of dollars that could have otherwise been put to much better development work on behalf of the poor.
My heart breaks when I read so frequently of the impact of climate policy maneuvering on more practical outcomes such as those ONE is promoting. The utopian dream of climate control will end up killing millions. Forget worrying about being 0.5 degrees 100 years from now–how about getting some bed nets and clean water to people that need them today.
10/02/2010 at 4:27 pm
Hi. I respect what you are doing but not this one.
How long are we to except the notion that humans are responsible for climate change. If Governments are serious about making changes why don’t we see some any positive results? That’s because it’s a sham.
Its the poor that will suffer and you and me, not with high sea levels but high taxes. Can’t people see It’s a multi-million business expanding all the time, trading carbon credits to finance massive coal burners and the like that push millions of tons of carbon in the environment. Lets wake up to what really is threatening our planet, Poverty, Injustice,greed and lies.
10/02/2010 at 4:27 pm
Hi. I respect what you are doing but not this one.
How long are we to except the notion that humans are responsible for climate change. If Governments are serious about making changes why don’t we see any positive results? That’s because it’s a sham.
Its the poor that will suffer and you and me, not with high sea levels but high taxes. Can’t people see It’s a multi-million business expanding all the time, trading carbon credits to finance massive coal burners and the like that push millions of tons of carbon in the environment. Lets wake up to what really is threatening our planet, Poverty, Injustice,greed and lies.