The recently released Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC: 2007) cautioned that “the warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level”.

This cautionary statement resonates with grave import for millions of poor and marginalised living in low-lying coastal lands, flood and desert prone-areas, who despite living in different regions of the world share a common bond in that they are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of global climate change and are also the least responsible (in terms of per capita carbon emissions).

On August 1, the UN General Assembly convened the first-ever thematic plenary debate focused solely on climate change entitled “Climate Change as a Global Challenge”. In his opening remarks at the plenary debate, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon challenged UN member states to take decisive action this year to tackle the climate change threat head-on.

He said: “I am convinced that this challenge, and what we do about it, will define us, our era and, ultimately, our global legacy”. Arguing that the world cannot continue with “business as usual”, Moon called on member states to work together to take the decisive action and translate the growing scientific consensus into broad political consensus for action.

This explicit call provides the global community with a unique opportunity to catalyse and scale up measures to address climate change at the upcoming 13th Conference of the Parties (COP-13) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Bali, Indonesia in December. A series of global media events, including Live Earth Concerts, championed by former US Vice President Al Gore, have contributed to public awareness on the need for action on climate change.

Sadly, despite the convening of an unprecedented number of global climate change fora, there has been little by way of global consensus on specific measures and mechanisms that are focused explicitly on the linkages between energy for sustainable development, poverty reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

It remains questionable whether there is adequate global political will to undertake tough intergovernmental negotiations that will result in timely and effective actions to tackle the complex linkages between climate change and energy for sustainable development objectives.

Clearly, what is needed in the lead up to the Bali negotiations are more focused and concrete discussions at the requisite global, regional and national levels on what the post-2012 energy related climate change framework would encompass.

More significantly, in light of the fast approaching UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015 deadline, the inequitable and disproportional impacts of climate change on the world’s poor and vulnerable communities should serve as the immediate frame of reference that guides the development of post-2012 climate change action.

It is widely recognised that the adverse effects of climate change such as sea-level rise, coastal zone inundation, destruction of fragile habitats, salinisation of ground water, increased incidence of extreme weather related events including floods and droughts will fall disproportionately upon developing countries, and on the poor within all countries, thereby compounding existing socio-economic inequities.

In countries like India, the effects of climate change on water, agriculture and human health will be far reaching and catastrophic for those who have the least abilities to withstand and respond to the threats of worsening water and food supplies and the rise of vector borne diseases.

For the vast majority of developing countries facing a plethora of environmental and developmental needs and impacted by institutional and resource constraints, the need to integrate and link responses to the global climate change problem with other national environmental and development concerns is a policy imperative.

In the lead up to the Bali climate change negotiations, multi-stakeholder initiatives (such as the recently announced Rockefeller Foundation US 70 million Climate Change Resilience Initiative) and work that is focused on the linkages between adapting to global climate change and reducing the vulnerabilities of poor and marginalised communities is urgently required.

There is need to focus on concrete climate change adaptation measures that will reduce loss of life and habitat and improve food security and health conditions.

To this end, developing countries will be well served by focusing explicitly on the specific ways and means by climate change adaptation measures can be integrated and linked with a range of policy issues such as sustainable agriculture and water policies, food security measures, conservation, sustainable management and use of biodiversity resources, measures that combat drought and desertification, early warning systems and disaster management plans.

(The writer is a consultant on climate change, energy and biodiversity projects)