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Climate Change Program

As reflected in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to which the United States is a Party, global climate change represents a serious, long-term challenge for all of the nations of the world. In June 2001, President Bush committed the United States to work within the United Nations’ framework and elsewhere to develop an effective and science-based response to the issue of global climate change.

The President’s climate change policy announcement in February 2002 also highlighted the critical importance of developing-country participation in any effective global response to climate change,
photo - rural Indian woman getting water from solar powered well
Indian woman draws water from the ground using a pump powered by solar
energy, a carbon free source of power
including both near-term efforts to slow greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions growth and longer-term efforts to build capacity for future cooperation. The Administration’s policy states: “USAID serves as a critical vehicle for transferring American energy and sequestration technologies to developing countries to promote sustainable development and minimize their GHG emissions growth.”

The goal of USAID’s climate change programs are to promote development that minimizes the associated growth in GHG emissions, assists vulnerable populations and ecosystems to adapt to potential impacts from climate variability and change, and supports climate observation systems. To accomplish this goal, USAID works in developing and transition countries to implement “win-win” solutions that provide climate-related benefits while also meeting development objectives in the energy and water sectors, urban areas, forest conservation, agriculture, and disaster assistance. These solutions include activities that: (1) promote the transfer of clean energy technologies; (2) measure reductions in GHG emissions; (3) promote carbon management through improved land use; (4) support countries to participate more effectively in the U.S. Framework Convention on Climate Change; and (5) assess vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and increase adaptive capacity. Although USAID works on climate change issues in more than 40 countries, the Agency has focused its climate change activities in three sub-regions: Central Africa, Central America and Central Asia, and eight countries: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, and Ukraine.


 

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