UN: Climate funds shouldn't divert poverty aid

[September 02, 2010]  GENEVA (AP) -- The U.N.'s climate chief says poor countries are right to expect that any funding they receive to combat global warming be kept separate from development aid or poverty relief.

Christiana Figueres says developing countries taking part in two days of talks on climate change financing this week expect the $30 billion "fast-track" package they have been promised by rich nations to be "new and additional."

The head of the U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change says that is "a very justifiable expectation."

Figueres told reporters Thursday the long-term aid of $100 billion a year pledged by 2020 as a "minimum" figure.

The closed-doors meeting organized by the Swiss and Mexican governments takes place in Geneva through Friday.

[Associated Press]

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