Developed countries have maintained their aid commitments despite the global economic crisis, a top UN official said Friday, but warned that fluctuating exchange rates could impact on pledges. Africa's growth rate is expected to slow to a 20-year low of two percent in 2009, and many experts have warned of "catastrophic" effects if Western nations opt to reduce their aid packages as a result of the downturn.
"At this point large contributors have not pulled back, but on the other hand the exchange rate changes, like the drop of sterling, can seriously impact on finances where Britain is a big contributor" Helen Clark, administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told AFP.
She was speaking on the last day of a gathering that brought together UN representatives from 45 sub-Saharan African nations in the Ethiopian capital. Reduction in aid "is a concern, but major donors are hanging in there and that's why the stimulus packages in the West are so important because that's part of getting the world economy back on track, and supporting those countries in improving their own economies," she added.
Clark, a former New Zealand prime minister, also highlighted the effects of climate change on the world's poorest continent, which has been on the receiving end of environmental disasters over the past few decades.
"In Africa, it's not African emissions which are an issue - there are very, very few of them. The issue is that the emissions of the industrialised world are grossly affecting it with more extreme climate which leads to more floods and severe effects on people," she said. Clark commended US President Barack Obama for his commitment to tackle climate change, and expressed hope that the next global round of climate talks in Copenhagen would yield results.
The marathon negotiations over global emissions cuts were initiated in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007, when the international community set down a two-year "road map" for a deal that would address climate change beyond 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires. But the talks are mired in disagreement over burden-sharing, pitching rich countries against poor but also dividing rich countries themselves.