Bangkok--24 Nov--UN
The world's 49 poorest countries need more and better-designed financing -- rising from an estimated $4 billion to $17 billion per annum by 2030 -- to cope with the difficulties posed by climate change, according to UNCTAD’s Least Developed Countries Report 2010 to be launched on Friday, 26 November 2010 at the FCCT.
The Report will be presented to the media by Mr. Nagesh Kumar, Deputy Executive Secretary, a.i. and Chief Economist of ESCAP.
This year’s Report, subtitled “Towards a new international development architecture for LDCs,” says it has been estimated that “for every 1?C rise in average global temperatures, annual average growth in poor countries could drop by 2—3 percentage points, with no change in the growth performance of rich countries”. It contends that, because of their lack of social and physical infrastructure, inadequate institutions, and narrow economic bases, least developed countries (LDCs) may be exposed not just to potentially catastrophic large-scale disasters, but also to a more permanent state of economic stress as a result of higher average temperatures, reduced availability of water sources, more frequent flooding, and intensified windstorms.
The Report urges that climate change adaptation and mitigation should be one of the five central pillars of a new international architecture to support LDCs. It cautions that, while LDCs have historically contributed few of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are now changing the global climate -- and while they currently contribute only 1 per cent of such emissions -- they face much greater economic and literal damage from climate change effects than do long-industrialized countries.
The Least Developed Countries Report 2010 will help to inform debate at the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries scheduled for May 2011 in Istanbul (Turkey). That conference will result in an international plan of action intended to address the needs of LDCs over the next decade.
Note to Editors:
You or your representatives are cordially invited to attend the launch of the UNCTAD’s Least Developed Countries Report 2010 on Friday, 26 November 2010 at 11 am at FCCT.
For further information, please contact:
Thawadi Pachariyangkun
United Nations Information Services
Tel: + 66-2-288 1861
E-mail:
[email protected] and
[email protected]