聯合國氣候變遷談判11月29日將在墨西哥坎昆召開，環境與發展國際研究所(IIED)於會前發表一份新報告說，富國未能履行去年他們的「快速啟動氣候融資」300億美元的承諾，以幫助世界最貧窮國家適應氣候變化影響。
「去年12月的哥本哈根氣候峰會上，已開發國家承諾在2010年至2012年期間提供開發中國家300億美金，作為因應氣候變遷的緩解和適應計劃的資金。我們的研究顯示，已開發國家未能履行幫助貧窮國的責任。」環境與發展國際研究所(IIED)的Achala Chandani 說。
氣候變遷影響到飲用水的供應、數量和品質。適應資金有助於確保穩定水源。復原已經劣化的土地可促進森林吸收二氧化碳，並建立因應氣候變化的適應能力。
研究發現，在哥本哈根會議承諾的資金已經失衡，資金很少用於發展中國家的農業、基礎設施、健康衛生和生計等的指定用途，而這些指定用途有助於提高適應氣候變遷的恢復力。
「只有30億美元正式分配到適應計劃。有些資金是以貸款的形式進來，這將變成已經很貧窮國家未來的負債，導致窮國被迫為修復開發中國家製造的問題買單的風險。」IIED的Saleemul Huq說。IIED提醒，目前還不清楚這筆錢將如何支出，會支助哪個計劃、以及國際社會能否追蹤確認這是真正的新資金，而不是現有的扶助預算。
「富裕國家承諾支持開發中國家適應氣候變化的資金管理，現在還沒有一個監督、核算和執行交付金錢的共同框架。」布朗大學環境研究中心主任暨援助數據計劃(AidData project)主任羅伯茨(J. Timmons Roberts)表示，「工業國家似乎認為，他們可以藉任何描述為適應基金的名目而逃脫他們的責任。此一危險是，沒有針對氣候變遷專一用途的現存發展計劃，將可輕易地被重新更名為氣候適應計劃。」
聯合國氣候變化綱要公約(UNFCCC)是因應全球氣候暖化，並嘗試阻止全球氣溫上升的一項國際公約。在UNFCCC之外，約有36個國家和歐盟已經同意了具有更強力法律約束力的京都議定書。
IIED的研究人員說，要重建南北雙方的信任，在UNFCCC之下，工業國家應支持獨立的適應氣候變化資金的登錄方法，然後提供詳細和及時的數據。
羅伯茨指出，「關於每一樁還在計劃中的或是已經在執行的適應計劃進展和效益，我們現在擁有可使受援國家以及各式公民社會團體自己加進這些訊息的技術，從納稅人在已開發國家的資金，一路追蹤到在開發中國家的每一筆花費。這個系統可以在全球合作方面建立一個新紀元，避免以前的國外資助的許多弊端。」
布朗大學研究員David Ciplet說，「在哥本哈根會議許下適應基金這個大承諾並沒有履行，反而是片段而沒有系統性的適應計劃正在成形，而且也沒有辦法真正衡量承諾是否確實被履行，對於那些面臨越來越嚴峻氣候災難的數十億人們而言，適應基金是非常重要的，但是工業國家履行承諾只是第一步。」
「現在最重要的是，已開發國家要做好他們的承諾，提供資金給脆弱國家和社區，以增加他們適應氣候威脅的恢復力，例如旱災和洪水、海平面上升以及來自疾病或作物蟲害的威脅。」
Rich countries are failing to keep the $30 billion promise they made last year to provide "fast-start climate finance" to help the world's poorest countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, says the International Institute for Environment and Development in a new report published ahead of the United Nations climate change negotiations, opening November 29 in Cancun, Mexico.
"In last December's climate summit in Copenhagen the developed countries committed to provide developing nations with US$30 billion between 2010 and 2012, with the money balanced between funding for mitigation and adaptation projects," says Achala Chandani of IIED. "Our research shows that the developed countries have failed to meet their responsibility to help poorer nations."
Climate change impacts the supply, quantity, and quality of drinking water. Adaptation funding can help ensure consistent water supplies. Restoring degraded land promotes carbon dioxide uptake by forests and builds resilience against climate change.
Funding pledges made since the Copenhagen meeting are far from balanced, with very little earmarked for projects that would enable developing nations to enhance their resilience to climate change impacts on agriculture, infrastructure, health and livelihoods, the study finds.
"Only US$3 billion has been formally allocated for adaptation," says Dr. Saleemul Huq of IIED. "There is also a danger that some of this could come in the form of loans which would further indebt already poor nations and force them to pay to fix a problem that the developed nations created."
It is unclear how the money will be disbursed, what type of projects it will support, and how the global community will be able to track adherence to pledges and ensure that the funding is truly new and additional to existing aid budgets, the IIED researchers warn.
"Currently there is no common framework to oversee, account for and enforce the delivery of the money that rich nations promised to support adaptation to climate change in developing nations," says Dr. J. Timmons Roberts, director of the Center for Environmental Studies at Brown University and co-director of the AidData project.
The UNFCCC is an international treaty which addresses global warming and attempts to cope with global temperature increases. Some 36 countries and the European Union have approved an addition to the treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, which includes more powerful and legally binding measures.
The IIED researchers say that to rebuild trust on both sides of the North-South divide, industrialized countries should support an independent registry of climate adaptation funding measures under the UNFCCC and then provide it with detailed and timely data.
"We have technology now that would allow recipient governments and civil society groups of all types to add their own information about the progress and effectiveness of every adaptation project planned and underway," said Roberts.
"By tracking funds all the way from taxpayers in developed nations to each expenditure in the developing countries, this system could create a new era in global cooperation, avoiding many of the pitfalls of past foreign aid," he said.
David Ciplet, a researcher at Brown University who worked on the study, said, "The big promises for adaptation funding made at Copenhagen are not being met. Rather, a fragmented non-system for deciding what counts as adaptation funding is forming, and there is no way to truly measure whether the promises are being met."
"What matters now is that developed countries make good on their promises and provide the funding needed to enable vulnerable countries and communities to increase their resilience to climatic threats such as droughts and floods, rising sea levels and new risks from diseases and crop pests."
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