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UN development chief calls for aid to curb climate change
Financial Times (UK). [News Story]
Rich countries will need to boost the Dollars 100bn (Euros 75.9bn) in financial assistance given to the developing world each year by 50 to 100 per cent if they want a global deal to curb climate change, the United Nations' top development official has told the Financial Times.
"If donors are not willing to think in these orders of magnitude, I am pessimistic," said Kemal Dervis, head of the UN Development Programme, adding that the extra support was needed to make a deal "fair and workable".
However, he said the financial assistance could come from mechanisms linked to moves to curb climate change, including industrialised countries buying more carbon credits from poorer countries as a result of lowering the amount ofcarbon emissions rich countries are allowed.
His comments come as Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, contemplates options for a global summit to tackle climate change. UN officials said several plans were on the table but details were not yet decided.
"A very big global deal has to be made," said Mr Dervis, adding that coming to terms would require facing difficult questions over "who pays the costs and who gets the benefits". He likened the coming debate to global negotiations ontrade quotas and tariffs.
He said countries such as Bangladesh, or regions such as the Sahel and the Caribbean, contributed little to global emissions - so would not be significant players in a carbon market - but were expected to suffer disproportionately from climate change; and their support would be needed for a global deal.
The UNDP's next Human Development Report, to be released in November ahead of UN climate talks this December in Bali, will focus on the economics of climate change.
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