Comment: Adaptation starts here

For the families in Ekipe and others like them throughout the Pacific islands, climate change threatens their very survival.

However, successful adaptation to the changes around them will require investments much larger in scale than merely helping one village at a time. Funding will depend on the outcome of international climate change negotiations.

In the lead-up to this week’s climate change summit in Cancun, Mexico, the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Climate Finance concluded that it will be “challenging but feasible to reach the goal of mobilizing US$100 billion annually for climate actions in developing countries”.