Poorer countries need support to adapt to climate change, says IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlights the fact that the poorest countries face greater risks from climate change and therefore need international help to adapt.

The alert is in a text published this Wednesday (23) on the IMF blog, signed by the managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, by Vítor Gaspar, director of the Fiscal Affairs Department, and by Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, director of the Strategy, Policy Department. and Fund Review.

The IMF points out that adaptation to climate change must involve ensuring safeguards for agriculture, managing the impact of rising seas and ensuring infrastructure that is more resistant to weather phenomena.

According to the Fund, issues such as better irrigation, access to better seed varieties, strengthening health systems and greater access to finance and telecommunications could have “significant results”.

The organization draws attention to the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, which faces a third of the world’s droughts and is “particularly vulnerable to high temperatures and extreme weather”, due to its agriculture dependent on rainfall.

The IMF estimates that just one drought in the region reduces the economic growth potential of local GDP by 1 percentage point.

The IMF also highlights the fact that the cost of adapting to climate change varies greatly, depending on the countries. Some estimates of the overall cost point to around 0.25% of global GDP per year over the next few decades for the world.

For 50 poor countries over the next decade, however, that cost rises to more than 1% of their GDP.

In the case of small island nations, exposed to cyclones and rising sea levels, the cost can reach 20% of GDP.

Often those who need it most are those who have the least potential for these expenditures, says the IMF, when arguing for the importance of this aid.