Q&A: The world needs a Marshall Plan for climate change

From an interview and article by IPS U.N. Bureau Chief Thalif Deen:

Last year, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown unveiled the 'Roadmap to Copenhagen', including a proposal for 100 billion dollars to be raised annually to finance mitigation and adaptation measures, especially in the world's poorest nations facing droughts, floods, deforestation, sea-level rise and pollution.

But that proposed funding, mostly by Western donors, still falls far short of the targets set by the United Nations.

"Billions in public financing will be required," warns Ban, "There must be new money, not just re-packaged official development assistance (ODA)."

"If we can bail out banks," he argues, "certainly we can find the funds to protect millions, if not billions of people and their means of survival."

In an interview with IPS U.N. Bureau Chief Thalif Deen, Richard Kozul-Wright, chief of the Development Strategy and Policy Analysis Unit at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, says finance issues are an integral part of the climate change debate. "I think the summit can have a very positive impact. The secretary general has insisted on the need for vision, urgency and leadership on the climate issue and has been working very hard to provide these," he said.

He said the summit will be an opportunity for member states, and particularly the leading players, to show their support for his efforts and to move the discussion forward as the clock ticks down on reaching a deal in Copenhagen, including a new global treaty on greenhouse gas emissions.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

IPS: Against the backdrop of the present global financial crisis, what are the chances of increased funding from rich nations?

RICHARD KOZUL-WRIGHT: Strictly speaking, chance should not have anything to do with it as advanced country governments have (at previous climate change meetings in Kyoto and Bali) signed up to meeting the additional financing costs incurred by developing countries in their mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Moreover, developed countries - including now the United States and Australia - have accepted the scientific evidence that anthropomorphic activity lies behind the already dangerous rise in global temperatures, and that if developing countries follow their example, then the consequences will be dire for everyone.

That activity has been located - predominantly - in rich countries. Indeed, the high carbon growth path adopted by these countries lies behind both the climate challenges and the massive income gaps that currently characterise the global economic landscape. The good news is that their success also means that these countries have the resources to tackle climate change both in their own country and developing countries.