Climate Talks End: How Did the Poor Fare?

International leaders are leaving two weeks of climate negotiations fairly disappointed.  They didn’t even meet the lowest of their expectations from the negotiations.  However, they are leaving having “taken note” of a tentative, non-binding agreement reached by 5 world powers: the US, China, India, South Africa and Brazil. 

No one really fared well in this weak agreement.  But I am especially worried about the poorest of the poor that are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.  How did they fare?

The answer is still unknown.  The director of ONE, who attended the talks, sums up the situation:

Climate change is putting additional stress on poor countries – which is why they need additional funds to cope with it – on top of existing and promised aid levels. Promises of aid made by the G8 in Gleneagles in 2005 must not be lost in Copenhagen. Without a clear commitment that these climate funds are additional, the dollar amounts are next to meaningless.

This debate over ‘additionality’ might seem arcane, but within the details lie billions of dollars – and very real impacts on millions of lives. Without this additionality, Copenhagen adds up to nothing. 

So the hard work still remains.  Politicians might decide that the funds to help poor countries combat climate change can come out of money that has already been set aside for foreign aid.  We have to make sure this doesn’t happen. 

Many people thought the hard work of climate negotiations would happen in Copenhagen over the past two weeks.  However, it seems the hard work will now be ours in lobbying our governments to make real commitments to cut greenhouse gases and help poorer countries mitigate the effects of climate change.

This work starts with lobbying the U.S. Senate who will be working on a climate change bill in the spring.  Tell your Senators that funding to help poor countries deal with climate change must come on top of previously committed funds.  
 

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