I know it seems like we’re always throwing one horrifying stat or another at you, about the way the world is going to heck in a handbasket. But when I heard that 600,000 people died directly because of extreme weather related events in the last ten years, it got me thinking.

With all the focus on emissions targets for 2050, what if we’re losing sight of the urgency of the action we need to take? We only need to look at the world RIGHT NOW to see that it really is “adapt or die” for many developing nations, especially the island nations, the ones on the front line.

Germanwatch, a European NGO, has a top ten list of countries most at risk from climate change. Not one of them is a developed nation. The list does include countries that have been ravaged by climate change disasters like India, Bangladesh and Nicaragua.  The rankings are based on death toll, but African countries (like Chad and Kenya) would be high on the list if the number of those suffering as a result from drought or flooding had been included in the data.

It seems pretty clear to me that whatever else is decided at Copenhagen, this is a problem that is only going to get worse in the near future. “Climate refugees,” is what we call the people whose homes have been destroyed by climate change related flooding or drought. But there is no foreseeable end to this “war” that has forced them out of their homes.

We need to help these countries adapt to climate change, and we have to make this a priority if we’re ever going to achieve the MDGs. As MPH coordinator Dennis Howlett’s blog entry says, all the work these countries are doing, and all the work we developed nations are doing to end poverty could be wiped out by a problem they simply didn’t create.

But adapting is such a vague term that encompasses everything from moving people the heck away from high-risk (read flood-prone or dry as a bone) areas, to building reflective rooftops to conserve heat energy. And this is going to be expensive, more expensive than UN estimates have led us to believe. The International Institution for Environment and Development has reported that the UN’s proposed funding estimates are too low. Instead of $40-70 billion a year, its really at least two or three times higher because the effects of climate change are making existing problems worse – like the drought-related water shortages in Kenya leading to a cholera epidemic.

But this money will help in so many more areas than just climate change – the links between this aid and poverty reduction, empowerment of women, decreasing child mortality, and enabling sustainable development are obvious.

And there is definitely hope on the horizon. A short term fund of $Cdn 11.4 billion has been pledged by the EU countries over the next three years to help developing nations deal with climate change (although this is just a drop in the bucket). And some of the measures developed and developing countries are already taking to adapt to climate change are pretty awesome. In Bangladesh they have started creating buildings on stilts to deal with the flooding. In Africa, the use of new irrigation techniques and crop diversification are helping farmers and rural villages adapt to the high food prices and failed harvests.

The Germanwatch climate risk report says that Copenhagen could be instrumental in providing support for those most vulnerable to the risks of climate change, and possibly develop a fund or insurance that will help countries stricken by extreme natural disasters.

It’s clear that this is the moment for world leaders to look at the problem and make a decision that will help alleviate effects of climate change now so that they don’t spiral even further out of control.

So as our world leaders sit in the air-conditioned comfort of their Copenhagen conference halls, I hope they remember it’s not just future generations that will be paying the price, for climate change. Millions are paying it already.

Take action now and tell Harper to make a REAL DEAL!