Adapting to Climate Change: What’s Needed in Poor Countries and Who Should Pay
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Source: Oxfam AmericaFrom press release:
Human-induced climate change is already causing harm to the world’s poorest people, who are the least responsible for emissions and least able to adapt to climatic shocks, according to a new report published today ahead of the G8 summit by international agency Oxfam. The agency called on G8 countries to urgently take action to keep global warming below 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) and pledge to help poorest cope with the impacts.
“Poor countries should not have to pay for damage caused by the emissions of rich countries,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. “As world leaders head to the G8 summit in Germany, they must be prepared to cut their emissions and to start helping poor countries to cope with the high costs of adaptation.”
The report, “Adapting to Climate Change: What’s Needed in Poor Countries and Who Should Pay,” estimates that poor countries will need around $50 billion a year to adapt to the harmful effects of climate change, a conservative estimate that will rise sharply if emissions are not cut drastically.
