Least Developed Countries Fund

Today, I took part in a conference call about driving an effort to help smaller countries respond to climate change. Actually, the effort is to get Massachusetts residents to lead in fulfilling the country’s obligations.

Let me explain. Climate change is a humanitarian crisis, and it is the poor who suffer the worst of the devastation. That’s why the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference agreed to establish the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) in 2001, to help the poorest and most vulnerable countries to better cope with natural disasters and make their societies more resilient. The United States has an obligation to provide capital to the LDCF. But it hasn’t fulfilled that obligation.

So Oxfam and others have advocated for a bill in Massachusetts that would add a checkbox on tax returns to allow residents to voluntarily donate to the LDCF. No public money. Completely voluntary. A few of us in the Boston chapter Climate Reality Project are thinking of getting involved.