This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Acting now to counter the devastating effects of the El Niño phenomenon will cost half as much as waiting, the head of the U.N. Development Programme told Friday.
Alexander De Croo spoke to at the U.N. climate conference in the Turkish resort of Antalya. One of the most contentious questions being debated here is how to fund action to meet that challenge. "The needs to hedge the impact of El Niño are $36 billion if you do it now," said De Croo.
"If you don't do it, the cost will be $73 billion. So the cost would be two times as high," he added. "And that's the choice, right?
Do we want to anticipate and help people or are we going to wait and live with the consequences?" El Niño is a climatic phenomenon that comes every two to seven years, heating the waters of the Pacific Ocean from springtime. That causes major changes in wind patterns and air pressure and rainfall across the world in the subsequent months. This latest El Niño cycle has been exceptionally strong, disrupting weather around the globe.
How to fund action to meet the challenges raised is one of the most contentious questions at the COP31 climate talks. "Not acting is the most expensive climate policy that you could have," warned De Croo. He called on delegations and major players such as the International Monetary Fund to rise to the challenge by financing efforts by developing countries most vulnerable to El Niño to mitigate its effects.
That kind of investment would save lives, protect crops and infrastructure and actually save money in the long term, he argued. Developing countries want more financial support for this kind of work from richer nations because of their historic responsibility for global warming. That is no easy ask, given the state of public finances in many wealthy countries, which are struggling with their debt burden and the costs of various wars, De Croo acknowledged.
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