US Senate Committee Calls on Oxfam America for Climate Change Testimony
25 January 2008
by Anna Kramer
On January 24, Oxfam America’s vice president of policy and communications Jim Lyons testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the effects of climate change on the world’s most vulnerable people.
The Senate convened a hearing on international climate change negotiations as a follow-up to last month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. In his testimony, Lyons described the “global deal” made possible by the Bali conference and what this means for the US climate legislation. He emphasized that poor people around the world are already feeling the effects of climate change—from increasingly severe weather events to water scarcity. To tackle this global crisis, the US urgently needs to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions and provide financing to help vulnerable communities adapt.
The Bali conference took the first steps toward a new international climate change treaty that will take effect when the current agreement expires in 2012. The Foreign Relations Committee must approve the new climate treaty before it goes to the full Senate for approval.
Oxfam America was one of five organizations invited to testify before the Committee about the Bali conference, and brought the perspective of an international development and humanitarian organization.
“The US has a new and unique opportunity to engage with developing countries and to assist them in adapting to the serious climate consequences they face,” Lyons said. “We can create a global deal, but only if the US is proactive and responsive to developing countries' concerns and perspectives.”
