UN chief launches new initiative to strengthen climate resilience of world's most vulnerable countries

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), has launched a new initiative in order to build climate resilience in the world's most vulnerable countries.

The Climate Resilience Initiative, Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape, was announced on Monday at the Paris climate conference, officially called the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The initiative, aiming to strengthen the ability of countries to anticipate hazards, absorb shocks, and reshape development to reduce climate risks, would help address the needs of the nearly 634 million people, or a tenth of the global population who live in at-risk coastal areas just a few meters above existing sea levels, as well as those living in areas at risk of droughts and floods, said the press release of the UN.

Over the next five years, the initiative would mobilize financing and knowledge; create and operationalize partnerships at scale, help coordinate activities to help reach tangible results, catalyze research, and develop new tools, said the press release.

"These are the people who did the least to cause climate change, yet they stand to lose their homes, their jobs, and even their lives because of the growing impacts of climate change. That is why I have asked the UN system to put together a package of initiatives to address this urgent need," said Ban Ki-moon.

The 13 UN entities participating in the Initiative are FAO, UNEP, UNFCCC, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNOPS, UNISDR, WFP, OCHA, WHO, and WMO, said the press release. Endit