The British-based relief agency, Oxfam, said on Tuesday, that the ‘rich countries’ (led by USA) should extend greater help ( in the form of financial aids) to the poorest nations in the latters’ efforts to adapt to the effects of climatic changes.
According to the Oxfam reports, the ‘rich countries’ have contributed a mere 67 million dollars in the fund created by the United Nations to help the under-privileged nations fight off global warming. This level of aid by the ‘rich nations’ was described as ‘an insult’ by Oxfam.
In the report published by Oxfam (to coincide with the inauguration of the Bali Conference-sponsored by the UN Framework Convention on Climatic Change), it was calculated that Americans, in fact, spent more on suntan lotions each month than the amount of aid they extended to the poorer nations. The author of the report, Charlotte Sterrett said,
This figure represents quite an insult, to be frank, given that the least developed countries will need at least one to two billion dollars to meet just their most urgent adaptation needs.
Commenting on the imminent problem and the possible solutions, Sterrett said,
Bali needs to tackle both cause and effect equally. Even if the world stopped polluting today, the worsening impacts of climate change will be with us for 30 years or more. That’s why it is so vital that rich countries help developing countries to cope now. This would also signal their genuine intent to tackle the problem.
Oxfam suggests that all the ‘rich countries’ that attend the Bali Conference need to increase their commitments to help the poor nations in fighting climatic changes, and they should sincerely honour these commitments. The focus should also be on adapting to the climatic changes rather than on mitigating them altogether.
The negotiators can identify the new systems required for increasing the financial help available to the people in the developing nations. The developed nations already have the resources and support to plan for and to protect themselves from the ill-effects of global warming.
Currently, the pledges of financial aid extended by the ‘rich nations’ stand at 163 million dollars, and only 67 million dollars have been actually delivered so far. However, the cost of adapting to climatic changes would be about 50 billion pounds (103 billion dollars) per year for the developing countries. The expenses of adaptation could indeed go up if carbon emissions are not cut worldwide.
In addition, the Oxfam report also states that, the ‘poor nations’ are often hit by climate-related crises like floods, strong winds, forest fires, droughts and high tides, as well as suffering from food and water shortages and increasing poverty levels. In this scenario, the richer countries indeed need to offer more help to the poorer nations in their fight for survival in the face of climatic changes.
Source: yahoo