Hundreds of miniature tents have sprung up in London today - along with
Brussels, Berlin, Dublin and Madrid - to show EU Heads of State and Government what is at stake should they fail to agree a position on climate financing when they meet in Brussels tomorrow.
International aid agency Oxfam erected the tents to offer a glimpse of the future if people in poor countries - already suffering the effects of climate change - are not given
enough new public money to protect themselves now. More than 200 of the tents by German artist Hermann Josef Hack, were placed on the Millennium Bridge, in London, in time for the morning's rush
hour.
The two-day EU Heads of State and Government Summit is the last chance before the UN climate talks in Copenhagen for the EU to decide how much money it will offer. German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will come under particular pressure as their governments have both been accused of blocking an agreement. With just five negotiating days left
before Copenhagen, a meaningful EU finance offer could rescue European leadership on tackling climate change, and put international talks back on track to success in Copenhagen.
Oxfam's
Campaigns and Policy Director Phil Bloomer said: "The EU must pack the punch of the financial heavy-weight that it is instead of a fly-weight on the ropes so that we secure a deal at Copenhagen.
It has the financial clout: now it's time for genuine political will with new money for climate financing in poor countries so that we can move closer to success."
An estimated 26
million people have already been displaced as a direct result of climate stresses and each year a million more are displaced by weather-related events. Unpredictable and more extreme weather patterns
are already devastating the lives of poor people living on the frontline of climate change: washing away homes, devastating crops through torrential rain or drought and putting health and lives at
risk.
Bloomer said: "European leaders have so far behaved as if Europe is immune- but climate change has no regard for borders. Unless rich countries invest so that poor communities can
protect themselves from the effects of climate change now, millions more people will be permanently displaced from their homes. The cost of failure will be seen in the lives we have failed to
protect."
Oxfam International is calling on Europe, a chief architect of the climate crisis, to deliver an offer €35 billion in new public finance every year to help
developing countries cope with the impacts of global warming. This money needs to be additional to existing aid commitments of 0.7% gross national income so that the EU does not force poor countries
to choose between building flood defences or building schools. It also asks leaders to deliver a cut in emissions of at least 40% by 2020 on 1990 levels in line with the science to ensure
global temperatures do not exceed 2 degrees, and that even greater damage is prevented.
"Offering to divert aid money already committed to help fight poverty amounts to simply giving with
one hand and taking with the other. An EU finance offer can breathe life into stalling international climate talks, but a simple re-brand of money already promised in aid risks sucking their last
gasp. Climate change is an additional burden to millions of people living in poverty, requiring additional money, " said Bloomer.
More from the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Oxfam activists hold a poster surrounded by the art installation of 200 shoe-box sized tents symbolizes the dramatic consequences of climate change in developing countries in front of the Brandenburg gate ...
