'Rich spend more on suntan lotion'

Yolandi Groenewald
10 December 2007


International funding efforts to help poor nations cope with climate change have been woeful, it emerged at this year’s big climate change conference in Bali.

In a damning report released recently development agency Oxfam said that rich nations had donated only R469-million ($67-million) to a fund dedicated to adaptation. Oxfam estimates that the cost to help poor nations would be R350-billion ($50-billion) each year.

“The R469-million generated so far is less than what people in the United States spend on suntan lotion in one month,” said Charlotte Sterrett, author of the Oxfam report titled Financing Adaption. “It is a slap in the face for poor nations, given that developed countries will need at least $1,2-billion [R7,14-billion] each to meet just their most urgent adaptation needs.”

Top United Nations climate official Yvo de Boer agreed. “Oxfam called the spending on adaptation an insult. If it is an insult, it is a pretty big one. Not enough money has been spent on adaptation. If we don’t act now, it will be too late. We need resources now.”

Adaptation has emerged as a major sticking point at the conference, with the less developed part of the world lobbying hard for richer nations to pay for the “damage they have caused”.

African countries, such as Uganda, have pressed hard for developed countries, such as the US, Canada, Australia and European Union nations, to be held accountable and to pay for the natural disasters that have hit poor countries. “For us it is at the top of our agenda here,” a negotiator for a Southern African country told the Mail & Guardian. “My nation is already feeling the effects of climate change, yet our emissions are so low.”


More at: Mail & Guardian Online

Well, the least we can do while continuing to destroy the ozone layer is try to keep our skin looking pretty, right?

Wonder why we spend more money on it... (have you see the HT girls?)

Wheres my check book? I mean come on?

I will take one of each, please?