UNDP: poor nations struggle to tackle climate change

The head of the UN Development Program warned on Wednesday that many poor nations are struggling to raise the funds for tackling climate change because of the heavy burden of debt they carry. "So many developing countries right now, in order to service their debt, are facing real challenges.

In fact, the UNDP published a paper just a few weeks ago in which we estimated that 54 countries are now facing potentially debt distress. That's essentially a step away from not being able to pay the interest or even to pay your debts and that is a very serious situation." said Achim Steiner, Head of the UN Development Program.

Steiner said one proposal being discussed at this year's UN climate talks in Egypt is to forgive a part of countries' debt if they commit to investing in clean energy projects and adapting to global warming.