World Bank ramps up help for poor to adapt to climate change

The World Bank Group plans to invest more of its funds to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, in an effort to stop extreme weather and rising seas from making poverty worse.

In a climate change action plan released late Thursday, the bank said it would bring early warning systems to an extra 100 million people in 15 developing countries, and social safety nets to protect an additional 50 million people by 2020.

The bank will also develop plans for adjusting agriculture to climate shifts in at least 40 countries through measures like hardier seeds, farming methods that capture carbon, and energy-efficient irrigation systems.

“If we don’t act, climate change threatens to drive 100 million more people into poverty in the next 15 years,” said John Roome, World Bank Group senior director for climate change. Read More…