Why Should Development NGOs worry about Climate Change?

Speech delivered to the Seminar on Climate Change and Development Dublin, Ireland 20 April 2006 organised by Kimmage Development Studies Centre and Friends of the Earth, Ireland
Concluding advice to each individual and organisation working on development is therefore:
- Make yourself more aware about the climate change issue (in particular how it might affect you or your organisation or your partners).
- If you find that you (or your partners) are likely to be adversely affected then develop your/their adaptive capacity (and hence enhance their resilience) through awareness raising, training and other interventions.
- Participate in coalitions (if they exist) or help create them (if they do not exist already where you live) of like-minded, development and environmental NGOs for awareness raising, advocacy and lobbying work.
- Calculate your individual (and organisational) carbon footprint and (i) reduce emission as much as possible and (ii) offset what cannot be reduced.
- Participate in the annual UNFCCC meetings (if possible) to do
advocacy/lobbying work with other NGOs (the next one will be held in Nairobi, Kenya in November 2006)