23 Aug 2010

Marshall Islands looks to speed up access to climate change money

3:10 pm on 23 August 2010

Authorities in the Marshall Islands are on the verge of launching a new initiative to speed up access to funding to combat climate change.

The country's Ambassador to the United Nations is worried that billions of dollars pledged by donors under the Copenhagen Accord may not reach the countries that need it.

Phillip Muller says the rules, regulations and lengthy application process have all hindered access to the money..

"We're setting up a website where small island countries and least developing countries will be able to put up their list of projects in which donor countries will be able to look at those projects and identify which projects they would be willing to fund or which projects they are more interested in."

Phillip Muller says the initiative will be launched on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting next month.