As climate risks increase, developing countries aren't getting the help they need: UN

This summer, powerful rains flooded Haiti, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes and killing more than 40 people.

Crops were damaged, businesses shuttered and roads washed out, with the greatest damage reported in the Port-au-Prince area and the western part of the country.

Kénel Délusca, a Haitian researcher who specializes in climate adaptation, said there's an urgent need for better infrastructure to handle extreme weather.

Haiti is particularly vulnerable to heavy rain and powerful storms, made worse by climate change, because of deforestation and poor land management. Even now, months later, the country is still trying to recover, he said.

"We have destroyed roads, destroyed infrastructure, so it will be difficult for people and also for goods to be moved from one place to another, exacerbating also the issue of food security and even the social and economic stability of the country," Délusca, who holds a PhD in climatology from Université de Montréal, said in an interview.

A report released Wednesday highlighted the urgent need for assistance to help developing countries prepare for the challenges ahead.

Promises by wealthy countries to help poorer ones to adapt to climate change have slowed, despite more frequent extreme weather, with a shortfall now 50 per cent bigger than previously estimated, according to the UN Environment Program.

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UN head appeals for solidarity

The gap is now estimated to be between $194-366 billion US per year, while adaptation planning and implementation appear to be plateauing, according to the report.

The report notes that a failure to put more money into adaptation will "inevitably lead to more unabated climate impacts" and much bigger costs to fix the resulting losses and damages.

The Canadian government has tried to quantify that dynamic, estimating that every $1 invested in adaptation saves $15 in costs.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the failure to adapt has grave implications for losses and damages, particularly for the most vulnerable.

"My appeal to the international community is to show effective solidarity that there is much more funding for adaptation, to build resilience, to protect the communities," he said.

UNEP estimated that developing countries required $215-$387 billion per year until 2030 to adapt to climate impacts, with the figure set to rise significantly by 2050.

The current commitment, made in 2009, is for $100 billion annually, and even that is not guaranteed.

"The numbers are not that big: if you compare the $100 billion to the money that the United States spends on its military, and that was spent on COVID or to save its banks, this is peanuts," said Pieter Pauw of the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, one of the authors of the report.

"It is time for developed countries to step up and provide more."

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'The needs have grown so much'

Money for adaptation will be high on the agenda at COP28, the United Nations summit scheduled for later this month in Dubai.

"The needs have grown so much," said Pratishtha Singh, a policy analyst with Climate Action Network Canada.

"We are now in the era of losses and damages like we are seeing, [with] impacts all over the world, including Canada, like this year. So I think this whole conversation has altogether shifted."

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, who will lead some of the talks at COP28, said current goals are not enough and that he hopes discussions in Dubai will help unlock more money to increase climate resilience.

"We fully recognize the needs of developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change are greater than ever. We've all seen heart-breaking stories from around the world this past year," he said in a statement to CBC News.

In the case of Haiti, Délusca helped prepare a report outlining the country's needs over the next decade. The top 21 priorities include better irrigation equipment and water management systems. The estimated budget for those improvements is $980 million US.

But Délusca said the actual need is far greater (the report lists 340 specific areas of improvement).

"The financial needs for developing countries when it comes to adaptation are far, far beyond what is what is available right now," he said.