Posted
on 25 June 2010
Huntsville, Canada – The G8 needs to address
the discrepancies between its recognition
of a danger threshold of a two degrees centigrade
or less rise in average global temperatures
and the world’s current course towards a
temperature rise this century of up to twice
that, WWF said today as leaders assembled
for the meeting.
“The real measure of
success for the G8 will be showing leadership
on the fast-track finance commitments made
in Copenhagen to support low-carbon development
and climate adaptation in developing countries
," said Kim Carstensen, the leader
of WWF’s Global Climate Initiative.
“As the first leaders’
gathering this year, G8 presents an ideal
opportunity for demonstrating the Copenhagen
Accord is not just more hot air.
“For host country Canada,
this has been a chance to make an announcement
of $400 million per year for climate change
as promised in Copenhagen. WWF hopes that
these funds are new and additional to Official
Development Assistance (ODA) and looks forward
to seeing more leadership in a positive
direction from Canada”
Under the Copenhagen
Accord, signed by all the G-8 nations, $US
30 billion in fast track funding is to be
provided to developing countries between
2010 and 2012.
The G-8 is expected
to make a headline commitment to improving
maternal and child health in the poorest
countries, with WWF warning that achievement
of the goal will hinge on improving the
security and status of “the most vulnerable
of the vulnerable”.
These are the people
most dependent on the health of the environment
and those most in the path of climate change
impacts on water availability, food security,
health and social stability.
“The studies we have,
even from developed countries, show that
women and children will suffer more from
increases in natural disasters, more from
weather extremes, more from the spread of
diseases to wider areas and more from reduced
food and water security,” said WWF International
president and former Ecuadorian Environment
Minister Yolanda Kakabadse.
“Delivering on maternal
and child health is going to involve much
more than more maternal clinics, medicines
and medical practitioners.”
WWF experts at the Summits:
Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF Global Climate
Initiative, WWF International, k.carstensen@wwf.dk,
+45-40-34-36-35 (English, Danish)
Zoe Caron, Climate Policy and Advocacy Specialist,
WWF Canada, zoe.caron@wwf.panda.org, +1
647-993-5251 (English, French)
+ More
Most vulnerable of the
vulnerable will need more than promises
from G8
Posted on 25 June 2010
Quito, Ecuador: As G8 leaders prepare to
enshrine improving maternal and child health
in the poorest countries as a global priority,
WWF International President Yolanda Kakabadse
has warned it is going to involve much more
than more maternal clinics, medicines and
medical practitioners.
"Getting results
is also going to be about ready access to
clean water and sanitation, continued access
to adequate food supplies, safe access to
education and social services and security
and a say for women," Ms Kakabadse
wrote in an article that also warned of
the dangers of climate change to the "most
vulnerable of the vulnerable".
"In the developing
world, women collect, grow or purchase most
of the food and the fuel to prepare it and
acquire most of the water. This burden significantly
impedes the progress of women towards education
and decision making involvement in their
communities," she said.
Ms Kakabadse said the
indications from the G8 were that there
was little recognition that an environment
under pressure from over-consumption, development
and loss of its biological resources "is
already delivering the food and fuel more
sparingly and the water less reliably".
Climate change is already
worening the situation, with studies even
in developing nations showing that women
and children will suffer more and usually
dramatically more from increases in natural
disasters, increases in weather extremes,
the spread of diseases to wider areas and
reduced water security.
This is before we factor
in the major impacts of climate change,
already severe in some areas and set to
worsen significantly under the most optimistic
scenarios.. Should this not be addressed
effectively, the burden of obtaining food,
fuel and water will dramatically worsen.
"In such a context,
it is difficult to see the mechanisms by
which the barriers to recognition, education
and involvement for women will fall. Most
likely, the barriers will intensify,"
Ms Kakabadse said.
