ActionAid Briefs Senate on Climate Change and Food Security
ActionAid urged Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee to substantially increase funding for the world's poorest countries in the face of shifting weather patterns caused by climate change.
"The good news on climate is that the government of the United States is now fully engaged on the issue," ActionAid USA Executive Director Peter O'Driscoll told lawmakers. "The bad news is that the impacts of climate change are already wreaking havoc on food production, poverty eradication programs and on emergency response systems in developing countries."
"Perhaps the cruelest irony of the unfolding climate emergency, is that those most intensely and immediately affected, are least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving global warming," he added.
O’Driscoll testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection on Oct. 15.
Each day, nearly 1 billion people go to bed hungry. Moreover, this number is growing due to shifting weather patterns associated with climate change. As part of ActionAid’s work toward ending poverty, we are calling for developed countries to dedicate at least $86 billion a year by 2015 to support the efforts of poor countries to adapt to changing climates.
Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said he believes passing a climate change bill with adaptation funding would send a “powerful statement to the rest of world.”
World leaders will meet in December at the U.N. Climate Change Conference to finalize a climate deal. However, developed nations, including the United States, are jeopardizing the entire process by evading their responsibilities to reduce their emissions and financially assist developing nations adapting to changing weather patterns.
Menendez added that U.S. backing for adaptation dollars would “greatly strengthen” the nation’s standing going into the conference.
It is unclear if Congress will be able to pass a climate change bill by December.
