According to the United Nations the world is falling short of promises made under the UN sponsored Paris Agreement on climate change to help the most vulnerable nations deal with the increasingly devastating impacts of climate change.
Adaptation, reducing the fallout among communities and increasing their capacity to deal with climate-related disasters such as floods and drought, is a pillar of the landmark 2015 accord, which aims to chart a path away from catastrophic warming.
The French newsagency AFP reports the deal requires signatories to implement adaptation measures through national planning, but also through funding to at-risk countries.
The UN Environment Program Adaptation (UNEP) Gap report found that the current finance levels of around US$30 billion annually for adaptation fell far short of the annual cost in developing nations of US$70 billion.
It said the true cost of adapting to climate impacts in these nations could be as high as US$300 billion every year by the end of the decade and US$500 billion by mid-century.
“The hard truth is that climate change is upon us,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP executive director.
“Its impacts will intensify and hit vulnerable countries and communities the hardest, even if we meet the Paris Agreement goals of holding global warming this century to well below two degrees Celsius.”
AFP reports UNEP called for a drastic scale-up of public and private finance for adaptation, as well as increased investment in nature-based solutions such as protecting and sustainably restoring ecosystems.
With just over 1.0°C of warming since the start of the industrial era, Earth is already experiencing more intense and frequent extreme weather such as droughts and flooding, as well as storms supercharged by rising seas.
Much of the devastation wrought by climate-linked disasters falls on developing nations, and despite promises to help out financially, richer countries still are not hitting their adaptation funding targets.
AFP reports UNEP said funding for adaptation currently represented just five per cent of all climate finance.
With the cost of natural disasters set to skyrocket this century, hard-hit nations are finding it difficult to secure the finance to rebuild after extreme events.
Mozambique, which was battered by twin cyclones in early 2019, said that one year since the disasters it had received less than a quarter of the estimated US$3 billion it needed to recover.
The UN report found that cutting greenhouse gas emissions will provide a long-term economic benefit by reducing the costs associated with climate change.
Achieving the 2.0°C Paris Agreement temperature rise limit could curb losses in annual growth to 1.6 per cent, compared with 2.2 per cent for 3.0°C of warming, the current trajectory if nations’ current Paris Agreement pledges are upheld.
Under the deal’s “ratchet” mechanism, countries are supposed to file new emissions reduction plans, known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, every five years.
The deadline for the first round of new NDC submissions was December 31, 2020.
However just 71 countries representing under a third of global emissions have done so.
UNEP says global emissions must fall 7.6 per cent annually this decade to meet the more ambitious Paris Agreement temperature target of 1.5°C.
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