The Wall Street Journal
United Nations officials are asking rich nations to spend $86 billion
a year by 2015 to help poor countries adapt to global warming.
The request for additional international aid comes just before
climate negotiators gather next week in Bali, Indonesia, to map a
five-year strategy to slow rising temperatures by cutting fossil-fuel use.
Negotiations are expected to once again pit wealthy countries, which are major contributors to
global warming, against developing giants such as China, India and Brazil, whose emissions of
greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide, are rising rapidly.
Even with steep emissions cuts, scientists say rising temperatures may cause weather changes
such as droughts or stronger storms. The U.N. said in its annual Human Development Report that
the world's poor will be hit hardest by global warming and will need additional help to cope with
crop failures or rebuild after disasters.
"We are going to have to live with climate change, or, more specifically, the poor are," said Kevin
Watkins, lead author of the report.
The U.N.'s annual development index ranks 177 countries according to gross domestic product,
literacy rates and life expectancy. This year, Iceland ranked first, with the U.S. 12th behind
Finland and ahead of Spain. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest human-development
scores.
Countries that use the most energy are usually the best off. "There is almost a one-to-one
correlation between CO2 emissions and your standing on the index," Mr. Watkins said.
That poses a conundrum for the U.N. The body's panel of climate experts this year shared the
Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore for raising the alarm about global
warming. But the U.N. is also seeking to end extreme poverty by 2015, which means helping
more than two billion people rapidly increase their consumption of energy and resources.
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