Friends of the Earth Australia has called on the Australian government to commit $1.8 billion a year in funding for adaptation to climate change following the release on May 29 of an Oxfam International report Adapting to Climate Change: What's Needed in Poor Countries, and Who Should Pay.
The report estimates that at least $60 billion a year is needed internationally to enable underdeveloped countries to guard against climate change, but to date, rich countries have pledged only $182 million.
At the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat meeting in Bonn, the Howard government announced that it would contribute up to $7.5 million for climate-change adaptation to UNFCCC's Least Developed Country Fund. This commitment is the first made by Australia to the UNFCCC adaptation funds.
"While a step in the right direction, this figure falls far short of the $1,800 million a year that the Oxfam report found Australia needs to be contributing to adaptation funding" said Friends of the Earth climate justice spokesperson Cam Walker. "At first glance, this does seem like an enormous figure. However, to put it into context, we should consider that the current federal budget (released May 2007) includes personal tax relief worth $31.5 billion over four years and that a budget surplus of $10.6 billion is forecast in 2007-08.
"Australia's greenhouse gas emissions have enabled us to develop public infrastructure and strong economies, and therefore we will be in a better position to deal with the impacts of climate change than poorer nations."
Globally, said Walker, the funding that has been pledged to date is almost all being counted towards long-standing commitments to provide 0.7% of GNP as aid. However, finance for adaptation should be provided over and above Australia's overseas aid spending, he argued.
"Australia also has an obligation to minimise the impacts of climate change by making deep and urgent cuts to its emissions, setting a target of 40% of 1990 levels by 2020", said Walker.
The Oxfam report can be read at <http://www.oxfam.org.uk>.