Helping Vulnerable Countries Adapt to Climate Change. Commentary by Kari Manlove, Center for American Progress, April 27, 2009. "As the world's largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases -- and with one of the highest levels of per capita emissions -- the United States has a responsibility to help the least developed countries face the threats brought on by global warming... Research released this month by Oxfam America indicated that by 2015 an average of 375 million people will be touched by humanitarian disasters whose severity is fueled by climate change. This represents a 50-percent increase over the amount of people affected in years past, and as Oxfam's David Waskow notes, the scale suggested by this new data is 'threatening to overwhelm emergency response and humanitarian aid systems'... Besides our responsibility to help vulnerable countries the challenge of climate change adaptation also presents us with a world of opportunity to improve the development trajectory of poor countries. Improving climate resilience and supporting adaptation will encourage capacity building, improve infrastructure, and thus promote economic growth. It will also enhance agricultural development and provide opportunities for clean-energy accessibility and reliability to help alleviate global energy poverty. Six billion people in the developing world have much more immediately at stake in the resolution of climate change. For everyone's sake, we cannot miss the chance to make these investments in their future and in ours."
2009-05-03
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