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adaptation-fund, bali-conference, Bali-summit, politics, UNFCCC, virtual-bali
Hutab Blora - logged forest in Indonesia
Image by Alimander on Flickr
Like a growing number of people in the North, I worry a lot about how impoverished communities in the global south are going to cope with the ever-worsening consequences of climate change.
People who have already been coping at the edge of existence are now finding that their crops are yielding less than in the past, or are simply drying out and withering away. Their animals are dying of thirst and hunger. Instead of normal rainfall, they suffer climate extremes –long droughts and flash floods.
They will need to adapt the way their communities have lived for centuries by buying new seeds or new kinds of animals. But these are the very people who simply cannot afford to go out and buy new seeds or new animals – and now, they are poorer than ever. How can we expect them to make the changes they are all too aware they need to make?
Adaptation Fund
One ray of hope comes from the ‘Adaptation Fund’, a pool of money from richer nations designed to fund the adaptation needs of people like this. Sounds like a good idea. But the catch is, it doesn’t yet exist!
It may - or may not! - get created at the UN’s Bali Climate Change Conference, which starts on Monday 3 December and ends Friday 14 December. The Adaptation Fund will be discussed under the Kyoto Protocol during this conference, and a decision will be made at some point during the two weeks.
Two of our friends and colleagues, Daniel Nelson and Jeff Allen, will be sending us news every day from Bali – and they will be telling us whatever they find out about the Fund. They’ll keep you posted about what they find out every day here on http://www.oneclimate.net/ – as well as sending live reports on our ‘Virtual Bali’ island in Second Life.
It is vital for millions of impoverished people that this Fund is created. And it is obvious that we should do this as a moral imperative. It is a matter of climate justice: since these tip-the-balance changes in the climate have been caused mainly by our carbon-heavy societies, not by the people who are now suffering their consequences.
More and more people will be adding their voice to those of the delegates in Bali who are negotiating to get this Fund created – and then get it filled with real money, to help real people severely at risk.
Speak to the delegates yourself
Would you like to speak to the Bali delegates yourself? - you can do it here on OneClimate.net on our Virtual Bali page.
Every day at 12 noon GMT (7 am EST), we will be linking up with Danny and Jeff in Bali. After they have updated us on the latest news from the conference, they will link us up live with campaigners and politicians who are working to enable (or resist?) the creation of this Fund, and how to make it work for the people who most need it.
I will be there, linking up with Danny and Jeff, every day – even the day I am going to a morning Bali briefing at the US Embassy.
The US government, as everyone knows, has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. So presumably they will not officially be party to the discussions under the Protocol about this Fund. So I am curious to know what the US government’s view will be about it. Will they join in the discussions by some other means? Are they interested in the Fund?
Come along and see.
Disagree.
Change taking place right now actually MELTS the Northern Hemispere and COOLS the Southern Hemispere.
That means growing conditions in the Southern Hemeisphere become Highly beneficial.
The North though is changing allot ( big areas for the better, big areas for the worse too).