Cimate Change Talks: Africa condemns delay on Adaptation Fund

Accra, Ghana - Delegates attending the Climate Change Talks here have rea cted with dismay at the continued negotiations on the climate change Adaptation Fund, eight months after the fund was established.

PANA reports that the participants, representing civil society groups on climate change and sustainable development, sharply criticized the current negotiations, saying that developing countries, hard pressed by impacts of climate change and

in a hurry to begin implementation, have to contend with more negotiations about the Fund.

They said: "The Fund remains a shell as all indications are that industrialized countries have decided to shun it simply because they do not have control over its governance.

"This also is the reason they are rushing to put their funds in the new climate change funds started by the World Bank."

The Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol.

Developing countries require international assistance such as funding and techno logy transfer to support adaptation as well as resources to reduce the risk of disasters.

Meanwhile, Maria Netto of the United Nations Development Programme, warned that the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would not be easily achieved if there was no concerted effort to address risks posed by climate change.

Neto, who addressed journalists at the Accra Talks, said there were risks posed to the MDGs by climate change such as eradication of extreme poverty and hunger w hich she said could be difficult to meet the targets due to climate change risks such as depleted livelihood assets and reduced economic growth.

She, however, said the Africa Adaptation Programme with a total budget of US$ 92 .1 million was aimed at enhancing capacity of African countries to implement early adaptation actions and long-term resilience plans.

She cited the Western African shorelines of Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea- Bissau and Cape Verde where they are developing effective coping mechanisms for reducing impacts of climate change, as well as in Gambia, Namibia, Algeria and Niger which are undertaking capacity development projects to assess and develop options for addressing climate change.

The one-week Accra talks that began 21 August is working on a strengthened and effective international climate change deal under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as on emission reduction rules and to ols under the Kyoto Protocol.