UNDP’s Work in Climate Change

Making poverty history and tackling climate change go hand-in-hand because receding forests, changing rainfall patterns and rising sea levels trap people in hardship and undermine their future. Because of climate change, it is estimated that up to 600 million more people in Africa could face malnutrition as agricultural systems break down; an additional 1.8 billion people could face water shortage, especially in Asia, while a person living in a developing country is 79 times more likely to be hit by a climate disaster than someone from a developed country.

As the leading global organization in the fight against poverty, with a presence in 166 countries, UNDP is responding in developing countries, where climate change is hitting the world’s 2.6 billion poorest the hardest. In today’s reality, solving poverty requires anticipating and working within the reality of climate change. UNDP in on the frontline of helping the poor adapt to the effects of climate change. For this to happen, developing countries need assistance in putting adapting to climate change at the heart of all their efforts to tackle poverty, with proper attention paid to the needs of more vulnerable groups like women and indigenous people.

For example, UNDP is working with 17 African Least Developed Countries to prepare national adaptation programmes of action, to help these countries embed urgent priorities for adaption within their national poverty programmes. At the community level, UNDP and the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme are working with farmers and pastoralists in countries like Niger to reduce erosion around increasingly fragile water points, and to trial fast-maturing, more resilient crop seeds.

Click here to learn more about UNDP’s work in climate change. Click here to read about UNDP’s contribution to UN-REDD and its efforts to help countries chart a new course toward a low-carbon future. Additional Resources: UNDP's Climate Community and Olympus Corporation's Work in Environment.

Get Involved

Inspired by the photos you have seen and the stories you have heard? Here are some suggestions for how you can get involved in the fight against climate change and environmental degradation:

Click here to learn more about the Seal the Deal Campaign.

Click here to learn more about the United Nation Environment Programme's Billion Tree Campaign.