More efforts have to be made to channel more funding to adaptation to climate change which has become inevitable even under the most optimistic scenario, said Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Wednesday.
In a daily press briefing for the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Mr. de Boer acknowledged that there is now a lack of resources for adaptation, which he described as a "pretty big" "insult" to adaptation activities.
A delay in act on adaptation is a direct attack on the poor around the world as they are the most vulnerable to climate change, said the chief of the U.N. top body on climate.
"Our expectation is that in the period 2008-2012, the levy on the CDM would produce for the Adaptation Fund somewhere between 80 and 300 million U.S. dollars per year. And that 's a price assumption. "
The Adaptation Fund under the Kyoto Protocol was established to finance concrete adaptation projects in developing country. The fund is not dependent on voluntary contributions from donors, but is funded from a 2-percent levy on projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
However, he dismissed pessimism over adaptation in lack of resources for adaptation, saying that "the climate change regime within itself can generate resources by putting levies on mitigation activities."
There is a high demand in the CDM and if people have confidence in the market-placed mechanism, "ultimately the CDM will generate for adaptation activities 1 to 5 billion U.S. dollars per year, " said Mr. de Boer.
The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) permits industrialized countries to invest in sustainable development projects in developing countries and thereby generate tradable emission credits. It is estimated that CDM project activities in the pipeline in 2006 generated investment of about 25 billion U.S. dollars.
Therefore, he did not see situations that developing countries have to divert Official Development Assistance funds or poverty eradication money to adaptation.
Meanwhile, he categorically denied reports that a global fund for deforestation has been agreed upon at the meeting, saying the World Bank has agreed to set up facilities to address deforestation.
The UNFCCC Bali climate change conference opened here on Monday. Representatives from over 180 countries are engaged into marathon discussions for an international climate change regime.
Source: Xinhua
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