World Leaders Call For Immediate Action On Adaptation

A task force of former heads of state and government and business and civil society leaders from more than twenty countries today released "Facilitating an International Agreement on Climate Change: Adaptation to Climate Change." The report, issued by Global Leadership for Climate Action (GLCA), a partnership of the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and the Club of Madrid, sets forth innovative recommendations to enable, finance, and govern global adaptation measures.  

The recommendations urge the international community to:

• Immediately fund implementation of National Adaptation Programmes of Action from least developed countries and small island states that are most threatened by and are already experiencing negative climate impacts;

• Provide financial assistance to developing countries whose public health infrastructure is already fragile and faces more strain as climate impacts intensify;

• Launch a major initiative to reduce deforestation and support accounting mechanisms that give economic value to threatened ecosystems;

• Create regional centers to develop and distribute new crop strains which are resistant to heat, drought and salt water encroachment;

• Direct UN agencies to better coordinate their actions and "deliver as one" at the country level;

• Establish a UN high-level task force to outline a new vision for sustainable development in a low-carbon world.

The report can be found on GLCA's web site.