Australia must spend $1.8b on climate change aid: Oxfam


A new report from international aid agency Oxfam says Australia should spend at least $1.8 billion per year to help people displaced by rising sea levels and food shortages.
The executive director of Oxfam, Andrew Hewitt, says all rich countries need to drastically increase aid for climate change.
"More money is going to be required for multi-lateral initiatives to really try to help the poorest countries of the world adapt to climate change," he said.
"It's not about aid, it's about the world's richest countries and the biggest polluters covering the costs endured by those poor countries."
Oxfam says Australia should compensate poorer countries for 3 per cent of the global cost of climate change.
Mr Hewett says there needs to be a greater focus on helping poorer countries adapt to environmental changes.
"The consequences of climate change, such as rising sea levels affecting people in countries like Bangladesh, or in the South Pacific Islands, or changing weather patterns in sub-Saharan Africa, are being felt here and now," he said.
"So we need to reduce emissions, but we also need to put money on the table for adaption."