Oxfam's response to the IPCC's special report on managing the risks of extreme weather events

Oxfam response to the Special Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (launched Friday 18th November 2011)

Tim Gore, Oxfam Climate Change advisor said:

"The IPCC report is a warning bell for world leaders to act now on climate change to save lives and money.

The link between climate change and an increase in the frequency and intensity of some extreme weather events is becoming ever clearer, and it is the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people who are being hit the worst.

Floods and droughts like those which recently hit East Asia and the Horn of Africa can wipe out whole harvests, contributing to soaring food prices and driving poor people into hunger.

With the window of opportunity for avoiding catastrophic climate change rapidly closing, there is no time to waste. Governments gathering in Durban for the UN climate talks at the end of November must take action to manage future risks resulting from our planet's increasingly extreme weather.

The Durban climate talks must jump-start much bolder efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions in the next five years, and get new finance flowing to help poor countries reduce the risk of disasters and enable people to adapt to extreme weather before it hits.

Estimates suggest that every dollar invested in adaptation to climate change could save $60 in damages. In Durban governments must find the new money needed to invest now, and avoid the far higher costs of clean-up and lives lost later. Billions can be raised without squeezing pressed treasuries from taxing financial transactions and applying a fair carbon charge to international shipping and aviation."