Nearly half of the global population – between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people – lives in areas highly vulnerable to climate change. The brief window in which to limit how intense and frequent climate impacts such as stronger storms, droughts, flooding and sea-level rise become and to secure “a liveable and sustainable future for all” is rapidly narrowing.
The report authors also acknowledged the significant gap in funding to help poorer countries adapt to the impacts that are already unavoidable. Despite committing to raise US$100 billion a year by 2020, wealthier countries have failed to meet their commitments by a margin of around 87%, if loans and other non-grant forms of finance are excluded. What funding has arrived in the poorest parts of the world has prioritised mitigating greenhouse gas emissions over adapting to climate change.
Scaling up adaptation finance is essential to help communities build homes and infrastructure that can withstand stronger storms, for instance, and enable safe and dignified migration routes with the active participation of those being displaced, plant trees that can cool cities and head off lethal heatwaves, and help countries extend access to healthcare, social protection, nourishing and sustainably produced food, clean water, transport, education and renewable energy.
(Vegetarian Challenge:day 3)
