"If we do not act now, climate change will super-charge the global gap between the haves and the have-nots," said former U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who co-chairs the Global Commission on Adaptation.
Climate risks were still not being factored adequately into decision-making, said Andrew Steer, a commissioner and head of the World Resources Institute. Poor people, in particular, should be targeted with help to adapt to climate change, as they are often the most harshly affected by disasters but "do not have a voice", said Steer. Most funding for adaptation "never gets close to communities", he added, urging a radical overhaul of how that money is provided so it reaches those who need it faster.
Former U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres said a common justification for not investing in adaptation was that it did not generate a direct revenue stream.
But instead, it should be viewed like good public health - as a way of keeping economies safe and allowing them to grow.
Without adaptation, climate change could cut agricultural yields by up to 30 percent by 2050, hitting the world's 500 million small farms the hardest. And it could force hundreds of millions of people in coastal cities from their homes, while pushing 100 million people into poverty in developing countries by 2030
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