Nairobi, Kenya, 17 November (IUCN) – On the closing day of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) called for justice and immediate investments in cost-effective adaptation measures to future climate change impacts.

“It is a tragedy that the international community cannot agree on drastic reductions in emissions before and after 2012, while everyone agrees that climate change is the most serious threat of our time. But it is also deeply unjust that the poor are going to pay the price for their unwillingness to invest,” said Australian Senator and IUCN Vice President Christine Milne.

800 million rural poor globally depend for up to 80% of their daily food, income and health on the products that nature provides – such as foods, fish, fodder, medicine, and water. Their harvests from nature are likely to change dramatically under increasingly accurate climate change scenarios that predict shifts in rainfall patterns, increasing extreme events, and dramatic changes to ecosystems – including species extinctions and expanding deserts.

“As long as we don’t close the tap, we better teach people how to mop. And we need to learn how to make  nature more resilient to changes in climate, so it continues to provide resources and services to both the developing and the industrialized world,” said Senator Milne.

Practical examples to increase the resilience of people and nature range from shifting the planting season – to avoid extreme weather events or the hottest time of year – to planting different varieties of rice that require smaller amounts of water, so that even under drought a minimum harvest is guaranteed.

Other examples are to change water management schemes to improve the conditions for fish spawning and thereby secure a major source of protein and income for the poor in many parts of the world, or to link together community-managed reserves so that buffers against climate change are created.

Senator Milne underlined that capacity building to deal with ecosystem impacts of climate change is a cost-effective measure that should go hand-in-hand with the testing of technical solutions, and that it may be the only option for some of the poorest countries that do not have the financial means for large infrastructure projects.

“Pumping water from a wet part of the country to a dry part, or building huge dams to store water, are often outside of the reach of the poorest countries. They can do the poor more damage than good if they further destroy natural ecosystems. Investing in human ingenuity to prepare for and deal with a changing environment may be just as effective and certainly cheaper,” said Milne.

For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:

Carolin Wahnbaeck, IUCN Media Relations Officer, Tel: +41 22 999 0127; Fax: +41 22 999 0020; carolin.wahnbaeckiucn.org ; web: http://iucn.org

Enrique Lahmann (in Nairobi), Senior Coordinator of the IUCN Global Programme, mobile: +41 79 215 6362; Enrique.lahmanniucn.org ; web: http://iucn.org

Photos are available from: carolin.wahnbaeckiucn.org

About the World Conservation Union (IUCN)

Created in 1948, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) brings together 81 States, 120 government agencies, 800 plus NGOs, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. The Union’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

The Union is the world's largest environmental knowledge network and has helped over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. The Union is a multicultural, multilingual organization with 1,000 staff located in 62 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.
More information can be found at www.iucn.org