Leading development agencies Tearfund and Practical Action say 'ambitious action' must be taken to help poor communities around the world cope with the serious impact climate change is having, especially in areas such as agriculture, water resources and health.

|PIC1|The call for action comes ahead of the government's announcement that the Stern Review of the economic challenges of climate change will be published on Monday, October 30.

Simon Trace, Practical Action's Chief Executive, said: "We are hoping the Stern Review will recognise and highlight the need for investment in combating climate change; it is not a question of can we afford to tackle climate change, but can we afford not to. it is already costing the earth in terms of economics and the lives of poor people.

"The polluter must pay - we need to see significant investment in adaptation schemes on top of aid budgets. The UK government needs to take an urgent lead on the international stage to tackling climate change."

Andy Atkins, Tearfund Advocacy Director, added: "Poor communities where we work have been living with the impact of climate change for several decades - erratic rains, increasing numbers of disasters, floods and droughts. These poor communities, who have contributed least to climate change, are suffering the most from its effects. Current efforts to respond to climate change are simply not urgent enough,"

As the two charities acknowledge that 150,000 people are already dying every year as a result of climate change, they claim this figure will continue to rise if action is not taken now.

In addition, the charities also called on the government to make a firm commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by three per cent year on year and to drive negotiations forward for keeping global temperature rises below 2 degrees.