|PIC1|In a new report out this week, Christian relief and development agency Tearfund has challenged the international community to enter into legally binding agreements to help poor countries manage the costs of adapting to climate change.

The call came at the start of a second week of what Tearfund called "make or break" negotiations between the 190 countries taking part in the UN climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia.

In its new report, 'Adaptation and the post-2012 Framework', Tearfund criticised world governments for making efforts to cut emissions a priority over the implementation of measures to address climate rather than placing them on a level footing.

Instead, it said that governments negotiating the successor to the Kyoto Protocol should regard adaptation as a "fundamental, top priority, not an add-on".

Sarah La Trobe, Senior Policy Officer at Tearfund, commented: "Adaptation has been woefully neglected for too long, with no binding obligation on developed countries to fund adaptation. This must now change because desperately-needed finance for adaptation programmes in vulnerable communities has not materialised."

Tearfund estimates in the report that at least $50 billion a year is needed to help developing countries put into place the measures that will help them adapt to the worst consequences of climate change, suggesting a tax on emissions as one possible source of funding.

The report also argues that any follow on to Kyoto must include a "radically improved approach to adaptation" post-2012 that would link adaptation and mitigation negotiation tracks and create a legally-binding commitment to funding adaptation, as well as ensure that levels of funding were sufficiently topped up to address the scale of the need.

On the question of adequate funding, La Trobe said:" Calculating the cost of adaptation is fiercely complex, but concrete figures need to be brought into the UNFCCC negotiations in order to make meaningful progress towards ensuring that funding matches the scale of the need."

The Tearfund report also called for a clear definition of adaptation to be agreed under the Convention and for adaptation to be focused on the most vulnerable communities and countries. Adaptation would also need to be woven into national development plans, poverty reduction strategies and sectoral policies, the report added.

"There are strong economic, moral and political imperatives for adopting a radical new approach to adaptation in the post-2012 framework," concluded La Trobe.