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Climate change: a responsibility of the rich towards the poor

By By Thomas CABRAL AFP - Friday, November 9, 12:15

LISBON (AFP) - Aid to development requires an extra effort to allow rich countries to poorer countries of s adapt to climate change, considered key players in the European Development Days, which conclude Friday in Lisbon.

"The consequences of climate change will, in the short term, very different in that part the world where you are. Unfortunately, countries and people most vulnerable are also the poorest, "said the director of the United Nations Program for Development, Kemal Dervis.

" This is a phenomenon of extreme unfairness and there is a question of historical responsibility which we can not escape, "he adds, echoing the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who, faced with this" tragic irony ", evoked Wednesday a" special duty of solidarity "in developed countries.

" 70% of greenhouse gas gases already emitted due to the activities of rich countries, 28% were issued by emerging countries and only 2% from the least developed countries ", said Mr. Dervis.
Recognizing this, the European Commission has proposed the creation of a "global alliance" to fight against climate change, for which she has assigned 50 million euros for the period 2008-2010.

"The goal is to mobilize a kind of great partnership between developing countries, the European Union (EU) and other donors to tackle the problem together and identify new funding more quickly, "explained European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel, on the sidelines of the forum.
"We need more money because the danger is that donors replace a point of interest by another, which would not solve our problem," he added.
The fight against climate change is engaged in two levels, referred to the various speakers at the Forum. There is firstly the mitigation measures, which aim to avoid too pronounced warming of the planet, and, secondly, measures to adapt to this change, when its effects are already being felt . Some

countries, in regions beset by droughts or floods or small island states threatened by rising sea level, do not have the resources to adapt when they are already facing the impacts of climate change .

For the Executive Secretary of the Convention United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Yvo de Boer, developing countries must ensure, as we approach the climate conference in Bali December, an adaptation and mitigation are "linked" to obtain "the financing of specific growth strategies and adaptation measures".
"Funding for adaptation is not charity, it does not fight poverty but pollution. But it is the rich countries that pollute, and they must help developing countries", defended Saleem Huq, Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development, based in London.