GLOBAL: How to get attention in Copenhagen – Money and technology make a big difference
COPENHAGEN, 10 December 2009 (IRIN): Some of the world’s poorest countries, which also happen to be on the frontline of climate change, are finding strategies to move the spotlight at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen to helping them adapt to doing things differently.
There is strength in numbers: some countries, like Mali, have found donors to help them afford more representatives in Copenhagen; Lesotho and Burkina Faso have teamed up with countries experiencing similar problems. Or there is narrowing your focus: other countries, like Eritrea, are selectively attending sessions that could benefit them directly.
Most of these nations face dire shortfalls in food production and water stresses in the next decade, and their main aim is accessing critical funds and technology to help them adapt, as part of a deal made in Copenhagen.
IRIN caught up with the leaders of some government delegations from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and local NGOs to get a sense of how small nations and organizations with little voices plan to make themselves heard.
Finding the money
Mali, a West African country caught in a vicious, often unpredictable cycle of droughts and heavy rainfall that illustrates the unfolding impact of climate change, sent a strong message to their government to send a big, vociferous delegation to the UN climate change talks to ensure its voice would carry weight.
– We had a series of workshops right down to the local government level for an entire year, to prepare to engage the world at the climate change talks to get finance and technology to help our people adapt, said Fatoumata Diakite, Mali’s ambassador to Denmark.
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