Meenakshi, 20, polishes solar panels in her village in Orissa, India. Picture: Abbie Trayler-Smith/Panos
Climate change is already affecting the world's poorest countries - from increased frequency and severity of flooding in Bangladesh to changing rainfall patterns across Africa, bringing drought and crop failure to countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
As well as being hit first, the poorest are also hit hardest because they are less equipped to cope with the effects of climate change.
With a two degree increase in temperature we could see:
- increased weather variability
- more frequent and intense extreme events
- greater exposure to coastal storm surges leading to a much higher risk of catastrophic and irreversible impacts
- between 100 million and 400 million more people could be at risk of hunger
- 1-2 billion more people facing water shortages
- a permanent loss of 4-5% GDP in Africa and South Asia.
That's why international support is needed to help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change and to help countries develop infrastructure that supports growth and withstands future climate instability.
Our work
DFID is working to ensure that aid addresses both the causes and likely effects of climate change so that current and future progress in tackling poverty continues.
We are climate-proofing all our aid programmes.
We are supporting developing countries to adapt to climate change - for example, through practical on-the-ground support, by building climate knowledge and capacity in vulnerable countries and by helping to ensure countries get access to sufficient finance.
We are also supporting the development of low carbon technology and the increased use of renewable energy to ensure that developing countries can move to a low carbon future that supports economic growth.
Addressing deforestation is another key focus, tackling illegal logging, improving forest governance and improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent people to ensure poor people who depend on forests are not deprived of their livelihoods.
International Climate Fund
The International Climate Fund (ICF) was set up in 2010 as part of the UK Government's commitment to helping developing countries tackle climate change and reduce poverty. It will provide £2.9 billion of climate finance from within the existing aid commitments from 2011 to 2015. This meets the UK's commitment to provide £1.5 billion of "Fast Start" finance by 2012.
The 2011 annual conference of the parties (COP) was an opportunity to share news of progress and results from the first year of the programme, illustrating how the fund is already helping developing countries tackle climate change and lifting people out of poverty.
The new publication, Tackling Climate Change, Reducing Poverty, gives an overview of the purpose of the ICF, the main areas it will focus on, and an outline of what we intend to achieve. The four main areas of focus within it are:
- Helping the poorest people adapt to the effects of climate change on their lives and livelihoods
- Helping poor countries develop in ways that avoid or reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and enabling millions of people to benefit from clean energy
- Protecting the world's forests and the livelihoods of the 1.2 billion people who depend on them
- Encouraging global action on tackling climate change