News
Experts say climate threat could nullify help given to poorest nations
July 15 2010by UNDP
Speaking at a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace panel discussion assessing progress on the poverty-reduction benchmarks known as the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, that world leaders adopted nearly a decade ago, U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) Senior Adviser Paul Ladd noted the need to promote climate change resilience.
"Significant additional finance is required ... and that needs to be underpinned by a division of responsibilities in a global climate bill," he said.
As the 10-year anniversary of the U.N. Millennium Summit approaches in September, leaders are preparing another major summit to assess the current state of global poverty reduction. So far, leaders acknowledge, they have made uneven progress in their goal of slashing poverty, disease, hunger and malnutrition in half by 2015.
But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has insisted that the current economic downturn not be used as an excuse to slow development, and last week, he named a high-profile committee including billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, CNN founder Ted Turner and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to drive a new poverty eradication agenda.
Meanwhile, several studies in the past years have pointed to the threat climate change could pose to development gains. A new report the UNDP released last month assessing what will be needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals points to rising temperatures as an added menace to everything from public health to food security.
Go here 
for the UNDP report.
Main topics:
- Disaster Management
- Health and Care
- Early warning early action
- Advocacy
- Communications
- Community risk reduction
- Youth
- Getting started
Disaster Management
Climate change can act as a catalyst for enhanced disaster management.
Health and Care
Many national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies will be touched by the health implications of climate change.
Early warning early action
Routinely taking humanitarian action before a disaster or health emergency happens, making full use of scientific information on all timescales.
Advocacy
The Red Cross and Red Crescent never works in isolation. Partnerships are more important than ever in the context of global warming.
Communications
The global climate is changing and the past no longer explains the present.
Community risk reduction
The Red Cross and Red Crescent has traditionally focused on response. But now other aspects, including risk reduction, are also given priority.
Youth
Red Cross Red Crescent youth take action to reduce the impacts of climate change.
Getting started
The Red Cross Red Crescent has a growing body of experience working on addressing climate change. Here’s how to use it to get started.
Take a look at Red Cross Red Crescent climate change activities on the worldmap
