NGOs welcome Green Fund pledges
Green Climate Fund Crucial to Sustained Food Production
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bread for the World welcomes the U.S. pledge of $3 billion made by President Barack Obama last weekend to enable developing countries' economies to grow while also lowering their carbon emissions, thus slowing global climate change.
So far, 13 countries have pledged $7.5 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) following the Group of 20 Summit last weekend in Brisbane, Australia. The biggest donors are the United States and Japan. The GCF is a multilateral trust fund that builds on previous climate change-related initiatives, such as the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) spearheaded by President George W. Bush in 2008.
"Climate change is happening today; it is not a problem of the future. Around the world, it is threatening the gains that have been made toward ending hunger and malnutrition," said Faustine Wabwire, senior foreign assistance policy analyst at Bread for the World Institute. "People who suffer from hunger and poverty are among those already feeling the impact of climate change."
Studies show that due to climate change, the number of people at risk of hunger is projected to increase by 10 to 20 percent by 2050 and the prevalence of malnourished children to increase by 21 percent. "Global food security is inextricably interconnected with the use of such resources as water, energy, and land," said Wabwire. "Climate change impacts all these resources, and this is why governments should support the Green Climate Fund."
In many parts of the developing world, approximately 75 percent of the population lives in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood. While these regions have contributed the least to climate change in terms of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced, they will continue to bear the brunt of the consequences of climate change.
Climate change is not just a problem of the developing world alone. The 2012 U.S. drought, which covered almost 62 percent of the land area of the 48 contiguous states, is said to be second in size only to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. That same year, Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on the East Coast, costing about $30 billion in damages and killing more than 100 people.
"Our systems may allow us to bounce back from the effects of droughts, heat waves, floods, and wildfires now, but poor countries do not have the capacity to adapt to climate change," said Wabwire. "Time is running out."
For more information on the impact climate change has on hunger please visit http://www.bread.org/hunger/climate-change/.
Bread for the World (www.bread.org) is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.
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CHRISTIAN AID WELCOMES UK GREEN CLIMATE FUND PLEDGEChristian Aid today welcomed the UK Government’s pledge to commit £720 million to the Green Climate Fund which will go to help the poorest countries adapt to the effects of climate change and develop in a sustainable way.The move comes on the heels of similar pledges from the USA, Germany, France, Japan, China and a number of other countries.Christian Aid’s Principal Climate Change Advisor, Alison Doig, said: “It is right that the UK joins with other global economic powers to support the world’s poorest people, who are experiencing the effects of climate change right now. In the past, the UK has been a front-runner in providing this life-saving finance and now other countries are getting on board.“The important purpose of this new Green Climate Fund is to deliver benefits to the most vulnerable people around the world, such as early warning systems for hurricanes in the Philippines, essential weather information to farmers in dry areas of Kenya and clean energy to millions of people off the electricity grid.“This injection of climate funding, which follows on the heels of the historic emissions pact between the USA and China, and the EU’s commitment to cut carbon emissions by 2030, shows that momentum is building across the world to address this global problem.“These pledges will also hopefully unlock the international negotiations resuming in Lima, Peru, on December 1st, where countries will lay the groundwork for a global climate deal to be agreed in Paris next year.“However, this is part of a long-term commitment, and if the Green Climate Fund is to play its vital role then governments must look to delivering continuous and scaled-up funding for the rest of the decade and beyond.”Ends****** OXFAM: Representatives from developed countries are meeting in Berlin at a Pledging Conference to lay down how much climate funding they will commit to the UN Green Climate Fund. World leaders at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen five years ago agreed to set up a new fund, which is designed to become the main channel for promised climate finance flow to help developing countries adapt to climate change and reduce emissions. Climate funding pledges are crucial if we are to see a global deal in Paris next year. Ends
ActionAid reaction to international pledges to the Green Climate Fund At a pledging meeting in Berlin today, governments made initial commitments to the Green Climate Fund totaling approximately $9.3bn, falling short of the unofficial initial target of $10-15bn. This money will be used to prepare poor and vulnerable communities to survive the floods, droughts and other extreme weather caused by climate change. Brandon Wu, Senior Policy Analyst from ActionAid USA, one of two civil society representatives on the Green Climate Fund Board, said: “The pledges to the Green Climate Fund are very welcome and an important first step to meeting the needs of those most vulnerable to climate change. But with the climate crisis growing worse every year, these pledges are at best a Band-Aid on a gaping wound and fall far short of the funding required to meet the needs on the ground. “Rich countries hand out tens of billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies each year and can well afford to pledge much more. Climate finance is a moral and legal obligation – there are lives and livelihoods at stake, and rich countries must commit the money needed to tackle climate change. “Some serious problems may be lurking in the fine print. A few governments have implied that their pledges may come with conditions – the US has even said that some of the money it has pledged might not go to the Green Climate Fund if it doesn’t like how the fund’s board decides it should be spent.“
Ends ******** CARE: Following today's Green Climate Fund (GCF) pledging conference which took place in Berlin, Germany, CARE International's Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator Sven Harmeling said:
On today's pledging conference in Berlin:
“The 9.3 billion pledged to the Green Climate Fund today by thirty nations is a decent start, although the scale of climate change impacts already unfolding are a clear signal that much more money will be needed. Developing countries roughlyknow the size of the cash pile that the GCF can distribute over the coming years to support effective climate action. The amount of money developed country governments have stumped up for the Green Climate Fund is a key indicator as to whether they are serious about an ambitious global international climate dealor not. Thanks to a number of pioneer countries, who have really raised the bar, most notably Sweden, France and Germany, there are some positive signals that the richest nations are finally getting serious about their responsibilities."
"Today's pledging conference in Berlin should push forward efforts to help protect the poorest and most vulnerable people from climate change impacts such as storms, floods, droughts and sea-level rise. However, developing countries are still waiting for answers to a number of questions - how much of the GCF money will be in the form of grants, and how much of it will come as loans? Are there any conditions attached to countries' pledges? If so, will the money actually be delivered? Developing countries need this information, and soon."
On the implications of the GCF pledging conference for the UN climate talks in Lima next month (COP20):
“Poor countries will arrive at the UN climate talks in Lima with some confidence that rich countries are starting to live up to their responsibilities. However, today's GCF pledges must be part of an ongoing increase in levels of climate finance to help developing countries deal with climate impacts. Crucially, money committed to the GCF must not lead to cuts in poverty-focused development assistance. Developed countries cannot give with one hand and take with the other."
On the Green Climate Fund's next steps: "Now it is up to the members of the GCF Board and developing country governments to propose steps to find additional finance and to make sure the GCF really delivers on its promises. When it comes to safeguarding people living in poverty from climate impacts, the GCF must focus on and scale-up smart solutions which address the needs of the most vulnerable, rather than spending billions of dollars on large infrastructure programmes, such as big dams, which may have negative effects on communities, including forcing people to move from their homes and land." ends
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