Lisbon - A planned partnership between the European Union (EU) and developing countries will help millions of the world’s poorest to tackle the effects of climate change.

“Climate change is a global issue, but the world’s least developed and other poor countries are the most vulnerable to the possible effects of climate change,” said Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the United Nation’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

A partnership with the EU, like the Global Climate Change Alliance, can indeed be a way forward, since its benefits will also be global, he told participants at the European Development Days event in Lisbon, Portugal.

Mr Jarraud welcomed the initiative to establish a Global Climate Change Alliance between the EU and poor developing countries most vulnerable to climate change, which was proposed by European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Assistance Louis Michel.

Projections show that least developed and vulnerable countries, along with small island developing states, will be the hardest hit by climate change.

“These countries have much fewer resources to prepare accordingly. If their populations must leave their livelihoods behind due to sea level rises or a lack of drinking water for example, millions will be forced to migrate to other regions of the world, including Europe,” Mr Jarraud said.

The new initiative can help millions in the developing world respond to the impacts of climate change, such as water shortages and migration.

As part of its mandate, WMO is tasked with helping countries, particularly in the developing world, mitigate and adapt to climate change and prevent related extreme weather events from turning into natural disasters.

In September, President Thabo Mbeki said the effects of climate change, be it in the form of droughts, floods or unpredictable and extreme weather patterns, undermine the world's common efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Mr Mbeki was addressing the 62nd Session of the United Nations' General Assembly (UNGA) in New York held under the theme: "Responding to Climate Change".

In his address President Mbeki warned that the costs of doing nothing about climate change far outweighed those of taking concrete measures to address the challenge.

"It is clear that delaying action on this matter of climate change will hit poor countries and communities hardest. Yet the pace of climate change negotiations is out of step with the urgency indicated by science.

"I would therefore urge that we collectively aim for a significant advance in the multilateral negotiations when our negotiators meet in Bali in December this year," he said.

The President told the gathering that together they must build a fair, effective, flexible and inclusive climate regime under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, and that they must agree to it urgently.

"Though we have different responsibilities, and developed countries clearly have an obligation to take the lead, we all have a common duty to do more and act within our respective capabilities and in accordance with our national circumstances," he explained at the time. - BuaNews