Funding For Climate Change Adaptation Falls Precipitously In 2011

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced Wednesday that 40 percent of funding designed to aid in climate change adaptation has been cut.

Much of that funding, according to a press release from All Africa, was used to help low-income countries to survive their shifting environments. In fact, according to the OECD, targeted funding for these programs fell from $3.1 billion in 2010 to $1.8 billion in 2011. And, based on research by the group Oxfam International, it appears that 2012 was equally as tight.

For this reason, All Africa is calling for renewed action by those attending the Ministerial Meeting on Mobilizing Climate Finance in Washington and meetings of European Union climate experts in Brussels, both of which are scheduled to take place during the second week in April.

Among those speaking out is David Waskow, Oxfam International's climate change policy leader. According to the press release, while Waskow has been welcoming of suggestions by officials on future financing, he stands firm in his belief that it cannot rely solely on private resources.

"Funding for climate change adaptation programs is dropping remarkably at a time when it needs to be scaled up in line with UN commitments and when developing countries are dealing with increasing impacts of extreme weather events," he said. "Governments can't leave it up to the private sector to fill this enormous adaptation funding shortfall."

One reason for this, Waskow says, is that private companies have been dismissive of many programs focused on helping people gain access to water, food and other basics that have been mitigated through climate change. These are areas, Waskow points out, where companies have little to gain financially.

What's more, while 2011 did see a $700 million increase in funding for several projects touted as key to climate change adaptation, Waskow argues that, due to a lack of a strict definition as to the term "climate change project," these projects really had little to do with it at all.

Back in 2009, talks in Cophenhagen yielded a commitment from attending developed countries to balance funding devoted to addressing climate change between adaption and decreasing emissions; however, Oxfam analyses reveal that only 21 percent has gone into the former.

What's more, figures from the OECD show that targeted funding for mitigation also declined by 45 percent in 2011.

April's talks are expected to include representatives from the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand, Denmark, France, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, the United States and Italy. Speakers, according to the press release, will include experts in both finance and the environment.