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African Group Says Poor Need Help From Wealthy Nations

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 06:40 CDT

African nations are asking for billions to fight the threat of droughts, heat waves, and rising seas - all natural disasters they believe are imminent due to climate change.

According to a new African text for negotiations on a U.N. climate treaty, developing nations will need at least $267 billion a year by 2020 to fight climate change.

The figure is more than double current development aid from wealthy nations who gave a record $120 billion in 2008.

"Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change, with major development and poverty eradication challenges and limited capacity for adaptation," according to text submitted to the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat.

The African text set a 2020 goal of $200 billion in investments to help all developing nations curb their rising greenhouse gas emissions. The 50 nation African Group said the requested aid totals about 0.5 percent of the gross domestic product of developed nations.

But the group wants another $67 billion a year by 2020 to help adapt to climate change like building stronger defenses against rising sea levels or developing drought-resistant crops.

The numbers soar above aid figures discussed by rich nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels.

In January, a report by the European Commission said the worldwide costs of fighting climate change would be around $227.1 billion a year by 2020.

"It shows the scale of what's needed," Kathrin Gutmann, head of policy of the WWF environmental group's global climate initiative, said of the African text.
"We're not talking about tens of billions of dollars -- it's far more."

"There's a very strange chicken and egg situation," Gutmann said.

She says wealthy nations want the poor to agree on solid plans for fighting climate change before countries with money will promise cash. The poor want funds pledged first before deciding what is achievable.

The next U.N. climate talks are set for June 1-12 in Bonn, Germany. The meeting is part of a series meant to end in Copenhagen in December with a new pact to succeed the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol.

The African group also said developed nations should-by 2020- cut emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels. They also want levels reduced by 80-95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

The numbers are beyond goals by almost all developed countries.

"At lower stabilization levels, the additional climate impacts are unacceptable to Africa," it said.

The U.N. Climate Panel estimates up to 250 million people in Africa could face problems with water supplies by 2020 and profits from rain-fed agriculture could fall by up to 50 percent by 2020 in some African nations.

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On the Net:

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
• European Commission

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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