Rich nations fail to help developing nations

Posted by Mark Smith On Friday, May 6th 2011 in Finance

According to Reuters many rich countries have missed a U.N. deadline in aiding developing countries combat climate change. Of all countries only Russia and Ukraine sent a letter by 1 May and that was to state they did not agree to send $30 billion in initial "fast-start" climate funds from 2010-12. The lack of response is a set back as the initial deal hoped to raise $200 billion by 2020.

"There are too many empty multilateral accounts," said Colin Beck, representative of the Solomon Islands at the United Nations.

"Developed countries continue to teeter in honoring even their modest commitments," said Clifford Polycarp, of the Washington-based World Resources Institute, which tracks climate aid pledges.

200 nations have met in Cancun, Mexico in December. There the industrialized nations agreed to give details of their first fast-start funds by May 2011 as part of a wider deal that included a plan to set up a Green Climate Fund.

The website of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat has only received letters from Moscow and Kiev. Although the deadline was May 2011, the indented deadline was in fact 1 May. Polycarp said that deadlines set by U.N. agencies are often flexible and rich nations are expected to submit details soon.

The cash is meant to help developing nations curb their rising greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change, ranging from more droughts to rising sea levels.

However the developed countries have problems in meeting the 2011-2012 deadline as most of them had budget cuts and Japan was stroked the hardest with the earthquake and tsunami. Therefore raising $30 billion proves to be a tough challenge.