Money talks

Although the feted Copenhagen climate conference of 2009 memorably failed to live up to expectations, one significant development above all did emerge.

For the first time, rich nations acknowledged the financial scale of the challenge facing developing countries and agreed to a "goal" of mobilizing 100 billion dollars a year for them by 2020 – a goal that was cemented last year in Cancun.

The money is supposed to help poor countries adjust to a changing climate and invest in clean energy technologies.

How the so-called 'Green Climate Fund' (GCF) will work is still contested. Finding some kind of consensus on this is one of the major obstacles to unblocking climate negotiations.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres told a recent press briefing that delegates in Durban would consider a draft design, which – if approved – could swing into initial action by 2013, though she readily acknowledged that it was "not the best time" to be negotiating money amid a financial crisis.

Something old, something new

One of the biggest bones of contention is likely to remain just how much of the fund actually includes 'new' money.

Developing countries have accused the European Union and other industrialized contributors of effectively recycling their existing aid budgets into the "fast start" finance programs agreed at Copenhagen.

The UK in particular came under fire last year after failing to make good on its promise that 90 percent of its contribution to the GCF would be additional to its overseas development budget.

The world's poorest and most vulnerable nations argue that this kind of fiscal shuffling makes a mockery of the problems visited upon them by industrialized nations responsible for climate change in the first place.

Case study Bangladesh

Low-lying Bangladesh is a case in point. Its population of 160 million is concentrated mostly around coastal areas and its dependence upon crops in flood-prone areas makes it particularly vulnerable to even one meter of sea level rise.

It's also beset with high levels of poverty, extreme weather patterns, and a government that doesn't have the capacity to adapt to the changes knocking on its door.

Last month risk analyst firm Maplecroft ranked Bangladesh at the top of its vulnerability index of 200 countries, deeming it to be one of 14 nations under "extreme" threat from climate change.

Bangladeshi Environment Minister Hasan Mahmud told Deutsche Welle there was a lot of work to be done in preparing the country for rising sea levels.

"We need to reconstruct our coastal embankments, we need to do river training and dredging, so that the carrying capacity of the rivers is increased," he said. "We need to rehabilitate the thousands of people who are most affected."

Budget shortfall

All that comes at a price - and it is not cheap.

In its 2010 survey report, the World Bank said it would cost $5 billion to build the dams and embankments needed to reduce the risk of inundation along the country's 6,000 kilometer coastline.

The country has received some donations, grants and credit and has invested up to 100 million dollars annually from its own budget, but it has so far seen little of the money pledged to the GCF.

Sayeda Selim Tawhid, senior monitoring and evaluation expert at the World Bank told Deutsche Welle that there was an urgent need for swift action.

"Risks are increasing in the coastal areas and new risks are emerging in many other areas of the country," she said. "As a result, climate change preventatives are imperative alongside the regular development activities."

Refugee status

Countries like Bangladesh are increasingly finding their voice on the world stage.

Two weeks out from this year's climate summit, a partnership of over 30 countries that face significant risks from global warming met in Bangladesh to coordinate their position.

The Climate Vulnerability Forum, founded by the Maldives in 2009, repeated its call for climate finance to be "new and additional" to exiting aid commitments.

Addressing the gathering, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised these countries' "commitment to green growth" and urged them to find a "strong and united" voice in Durban.

The UN chief said the world had to find a way of making the 100-billion-dollar-fund work.

Reporter: Tamsin Walker, Iftekhar Mahmud
Editor: Nathan Witkop