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The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) released a new report, the 2009 World Economic and Social Survey: Promoting Development, Saving the Planet, which recommends a new “Marshall Plan” of more than USD 500 billion per year, or one per cent of world global output, to help developing countries deal with the impact of global warming and adapt to its effects. Rob Vos, a Director of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) said: “If we do not significantly reduce emissions, the damage to poor countries as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) will be up to more than 10 times greater than in the United States and most other developed countries.”

Least developed countries (LDCs), which already have fragile infrastructure systems and face pressing development needs, are among the countries most vulnerable to changes in climate. Also, many LDCs are found in geographic areas of Sub-Saharan Africa that are expected to be highly stressed by climate change. Loss of agricultural farmland, biodiversity, and water resources could lead to mass migrations and internal combat.

According to the UN, there is also a cost to developed countries if nothing is done for developing countries. Under a business as usual scenario, 20 percent of the world’s GDP could be lost. Furthermore, delaying spending on mitigating climate change in the developing world “runs the real danger of locking in dirtier investments for several more decades.” According to The Guardian (UK), UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon also ”makes the case for meeting both the climate challenge and the development challenge by recognising the links between the two, and proceeding along low-emissions, high-growth pathways.”

The Guardian reports that transferring new technologies to developing countries is critical to ensuring they follow a more sustainable economic development path. However, useful low-C02 technologies, including low-energy building technologies and processes, drought-resistant crops and renewable energy technologies and related infrastructure, are often proprietary and expensive.

Also, many developing countries lack the infrastructure to take advantage of renewable energy. While the cost of assisting developing countries in creating that infrastructure may be high, the investment may be as worthwhile as the funds used to alleviate the global financial crisis, says the UN. “The cost of meeting the needs of the ‘energy destitute’ is still small, the report estimates, particularly when compared with the billions pledged by many developed country governments to rescue their financial sectors and automotive industries. In comparison, the cost of bringing 2 billion people into the modern energy service system would appear to be a real bargain.”

The UN report says much of the blame for the lack of progress on climate change adaptation in developing countries rests on the shoulders of the developed world: ”The failure of wealthy countries to honour long-standing commitments of international support for poverty reduction and adequate transfers of resources and technology remains the single biggest obstacle to meeting the climate change challenge.” According to The Guardian, USD 21 billion in official development assistance has been provided for climate change, “mostly for fighting problems such as drought or flooding.” The UN adds: “If the international community is serious about a ‘global new deal’, it should be just as serious about committing resources on the same scale as was needed to tackle the financial crisis and defeat political extremism.”

The release of the report follows a recent visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to a Norwegian-controlled Arctic area to highlight accelerated rates of melting ice. In the Arctic, Ban said what is needed is a “global deal that is comprehensive, equitable and balanced for the future of humanity and the future of planet Earth.”

Read the article and the full report. Also, read Ban Ki-moon’s latest speech at World Climate Conference-3.

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