By careaustralia

In the same week that I joined CARE’s advocacy team in Bangkok for the UN climate change talks, CARE’s emergency teams were responding to the consequences of typhoons, droughts and floods in the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Guatemala  – some of the poorest communities in the world. 

Jinsi Devi in front of her mud house that is surrounded by water with the tarpaulin on the roof which she received from CARE as part of a relief kit.

Whilst I was in Bangkok I was trying to influence government delegations negotiating a global deal to follow on from the first phase of the UN’s Kyoto Protocol. It seemed surreal that there I was, worrying about how to get a good global climate deal, while so many of my CARE colleagues were on the ground helping people respond to and recover from a seemingly endless series of disasters. Whilst the world’s governments are arguing about it, those people most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are already feeling its effects, and these effects often fall disproportionately hard on women. These very same people are being forgotten in the fog of politics.

These negotiations in the lead up to the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December this year are not just about parties agreeing on a nice form of words, by taking a middle path. Those most vulnerable to climate change need three things for good deal in Copenhagen: scientifically sound reduction in emissions, a massive scale up of funds in line with needs, and commitments in the agreement that those people and groups most vulnerable will be prioritised and meaningfully engaged.

However, the parts of the draft treaty text that give priority to the most vulnerable people and groups are under dispute. Some countries want that text eliminated but, to their credit, some others, such Australia, want it kept in. The negative effects of climate change are being felt already, today, by people. And if vulnerable people and groups are not given a place in the text that will hopefully be agreed in Copenhagen then the deal will fail one vital test: being good for people.

Take the case of Vietnam where rising sea levels and more frequent storm surges are a real threat to the coastline. Data already shows these storms are arriving more frequently and this looks likely to continue. Adaptation money (funds that allow communities to adjust to the affects of climate change) could be spent on building a concrete sea wall, which it has been shown cannot hold back the ocean. Or it could be spent on working with communities to replant and maintain mangroves that protect the coastline, harbour marine life and provide a sustainable source of income. CARE’s experience tells us that these more creative solutions, and not the most obvious technical fixes, are the ones that work best, last longest, and benefit the most people.

CARE volunteers planting a mangrove forest on the coastline in Vietnam.

A good deal in Copenhagen needs to first and foremost be about people, groups and communities. If the agreement does not reflect that then we will have failed those people that need us most and who have contributed the least to climate change.