As the 2008 Commonwealth Week opens with a major focus on the environment, the Commonwealth Trade Union Group, part of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), has called on the Commonwealth to establish a High-Level Commission to raise the profile of climate change, assess the challenges and costs of climate change mitigation and adaptation across the Commonwealth and recommend steps the Commonwealth could take to address the threat.

ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder said:
“Climate change affects the whole Commonwealth, from the developed economies that need to become low-to-no-carbon to the developing countries where climate change has the potential to make poverty permanent.

“We need greater urgency and leadership, and a High-Level Commission could deliver both. It would need to map out the measures needed to address higher sea levels in coastal communities and small islands, the effects of weirder weather on rural communities, and the need for green jobs and just transition to mitigate the impact low carbon economies will have on traditional industries.”

The Commonwealth Trade Union Group has identified some of the key climate change challenges faced by Commonwealth communities:
 increasing flooding of Bangladesh. The floods in 2004 affected more than one-third of the country, destroying three-quarters of crops and leaving 10 million people homeless. If the sea level rises by up to one meter this century, Bangladesh could lose one-third of its land mass and as many as 30 million Bangladeshis could become climate refugees*;
 most Commonwealth countries are on the climate change frontline – facing high impacts yet with low capacity to adapt. Rising global temperatures will cause temperature extremes, changes in rainfall distribution, an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and sea-level rise. There will be direct impacts for development in relation to climate-dependent activities such as hydropower, infrastructure, and agriculture; and indirect consequences for poverty, the economy, human health, and conflict**;
 highly vulnerable smaller Commonwealth states – including small island states, sub-Saharan African nations and other LDCs - need urgent support for capacity building to assess, plan for and monitor climate change impacts; and
 the 2006 drought in East Africa is one of the worst on record with more than 8 million people in need of food aid. It is a stark reminder of how development and the economy are still largely dependent on the climate. For atoll states, climate change and sea level rise may overwhelm them and in this sense there is a limit to the adaptation that they can achieve. For all states, but especially atoll states, mitigation remains a pressing concern.

The CTUG says that serious long-term commitments to secure increased financial flows for adaptation to Commonwealth countries are essential. And to secure a ‘Just Transition’ towards a global low carbon future, Governments need to take steps to ensure the active involvement of civil society organisations, including trade unions, at all levels, to strengthen public awareness and engagement in the challenges ahead.

*Up in Smoke: Asia and the Pacific: fifth report of the working group on climate change and development, 2007.
**Adaptation to climate change: Commonwealth Consultative group on the Environment, 2007.

The Commonwealth Trade Union Group represents over 30 million trade unionists in 53 countries. The Commonwealth accounts for 1.8 billion of the world’s people – almost one in three.

The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates.

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 621 018