Poznan: conferenza internazionale sui cambiamenti climatici

Mixed results but good DRR progress at Poznań talks

 



At the Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland early this month, disaster issues were highlighted at a special plenary workshop on Risk Management and Insurance. Following an invited UNISDR briefing, many states reiterated that disaster risk reduction and the use of the Hyogo Framework were important elements of adaptation to climate change. This was accompanied by strong advocacy efforts from OCHA and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, reflecting a newly galvanized humanitarian sector focus on disaster prevention - which is providing opportunities for stronger engagement in ISDR System partnerships. Climate risk insurance and risk transfer attracted strong state party interest but are nonetheless the subject of widely divergent views on the kinds of benefits that would result.

A notable advance during the talks was the agreement that the climate change Adaptation Fund would be a legal entity granting direct funding access to developing countries. This agreement will allow the Fund, set up in December 2007 at the Bali talks, to actually begin operation. However, developing country representatives were disappointed that there would be no increase in the size of the Fund, which currently contains about US$80 million. The purpose of the Fund is to help reduce the negative effects of climate change on vulnerable states, including through disaster risk reduction.