Climate change and poverty are the two biggest challenges the world is facing. Assisting poor countries adapting to climate change is a key component of Norway’s climate change policy.
All countries will be affected by climate change. Yet the most vulnerable - the poorest countries and peoples - that will be affected the earliest and the most. It is the poor whose access to clean water and food, whose stable health conditions, security of settlements and ecosystems are likely to be most adversely affected by climate change.
The Norwegian Government has clearly stated that it is the rich world that has created the problems of climate change – and that the rich world must shoulder the main responsibility for solving them. Industrial countries must lead the way, by cutting emissions at home and by financing mitigation and adaptation in the developing world.
A general goal is to contribute to the development of low-carbon solutions that both satisfy the need for growth and take environmental concerns into account.
Two overall objectives are key in achieving this goal: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change. In order to achieve the first of these, efforts must primarily be targeted at countries that already generate large greenhouse gas emissions, or where emissions are expected to increase markedly. Efforts to achieve the second objective will give priority to the poorest and most vulnerable countries, i.e. those that will be hardest hit by and least able to adapt to climate change.
The agreement at Bali to launch the Adaptation Fund will soon make it possible to finance concrete projects that will benefit developing countries. The fund will be financed by 2% of the certified emissions reductions under the Clean Development Mechanism. This means that the adaptation fund will grow as more CDM projects are implemented.
Carbon trading creates incentives to reduce emissions: It stimulates investments and it stimulates the transfer of funds and technology from rich countries to poor countries. By means of one measure, we can thus address two challenges: climate change and poverty.