‘Green climate fund needed to tackle climate change’
A green climate fund was essential to help the poor tackle the effects of climate change, global aid agency Oxfam International said Wednesday.
‘We will push for the fund and its proper implementation in the COP-16 summit in Mexico this November,’ the NGO said in a statement.
In a meeting here last week with representatives of 16 countries, including the US, Britain, Mexico and South Africa, officials of Oxfam chalked out plans to come up with concrete ideas to push for the fund in the upcoming climate change summit.
Besides a dedicated fund and a proper mechanism, the agency is also campaigning for poor women agricultural producers in India and across the world.
‘We have had several public hearings and they have ratified that communities and people’s lives are devastated by climate change and women are the most affected. So, it is logical that we have a campaign with women agricultural producers at the centre,’ Oxfam India Chief Executive Officer Nisha Agarwal said.
The agency organised six public hearings in India with an aim to hear people’s voice on the matter. There was a hearing for the people in the Himalayan ecosystem in Rishikesh, the urban poor in Mumbai, in the coastal areas of Puducherry, the rain-fed areas of Jaipur and the flood affected areas in Patna.
As part of their meeting, the international participants also visited some villages near Jaipur to understand their problems.
Among the various issues that were highlighted were forced migration from villages because of failed agriculture – a result of change in weather patterns affecting crops.