Alister Doyle, PlanetArk 28 Aug 08;
ACCRA - Rich nations will need to provide about US$130 billion a year by 2030 to help developing countries cope with climate change, or about five times current flows, the WWF conservation group said on Wednesday.
A WWF study showed that there were 16 funds, run by UN agencies, the World Bank and others, channelling money to poor nations to help them curb rising greenhouse gases and adapt to effects of warming such as droughts, floods and rising seas.
But a big worry was that Africa, the poorest continent and among the most vulnerable to a changing climate, was getting only fractional amounts. Africa might get further left behind with a trend towards funds managed outside the UN system.
"Currently there is something like US$25 billion available for developing countries," said Donald Pols, head of international finance for the Geneva-based WWF group.
"The estimated need in 2030 would be about US$130 billion a year. So there is still a gap of US$105 billion," he told Reuters. "Only a small fraction is going to Africa," he said.
The data in Pols' study was based on calculations by Germany's Wuppertal Institute think-tank.
Most finance now comes from the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), under which rich nations can invest in cutting greenhouse gases in poor nations and claim credits back home.
That is generating billions of dollars in carbon dioxide credits from projects such as wind farms in India or refrigerant factories in China which are destroying powerful greenhouse gases.
"Most money is going to the large developing countries, China, India and Brazil," Pols said, adding it was good in many ways that funds were diversifying from the United Nation.
"But there is a danger that the UN process will be sidelined by hard cash," he said. Companies have so far found few market opportunities in Africa, partly because poor countries emit the least greenhouse gases.
"Africa has a voice in the UN system. Africa does not have a voice in the market," he said. Of the 16 funds, 14 were set up in the past 18 months alone.
Pols also said that for every 24 dollars going to help curb greenhouse gas emissions only one dollar was going to help countries adapt to impacts of climate change, ranging from heatwaves that disrupt farming to rising seas.
"In Africa, the type of projects that need to be funded is access to water, agriculture, so you can produce food with less water," he said.(Editing by Dina Kyriakidou)
