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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Share your thoughts on climate change adaptation


Talk point: Share your thoughts on climate change adaptation

This month's Global development podcast will explore the issue of climate change adaptation. Ahead of the recording next week we would like to hear your thoughts on the issue. We'll put the best comments or questions to our podcast panellists

Record a message on Audioboo
MDG: Brazil Climate change: drought
The Amazon forest burns next to the city of Mandaquiri last November. The world's biggest rainforest was suffering from seasonal drought. Photograph: Paulo Whitaker/Reuters
In the run-up to Cancun, this month's Global development podcast will focus on climate change and adaptation.
The podcast will be recorded next week, and we'd like to hear any comments or questions you'd like us to share with our panellists.
Madeleine Bunting will present the discussion and share her insights from her recent trip to Mali, where she saw first hand the effects of climate change on the delicate Sahelian landscape and sensed the coming demand for "environmental justice".
She will be joined in the studio by John Vidal, the Guardian's environment editor, and Davyth Stewart, the senior campaigner in the forests and climate change team at Global Witness.
Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development – and member of the Guardian's Global development site's advisory panel - will be joining us by phone from Cancun.
You can leave your comments either in the thread below or as an audio clip on Audioboo (pasted below are some instructions for recording your clip).
We'd also like to know some things from you: What does the impact of climate change and adaptation look like in your country? Last week we heard from a number of people from some of the countries most vulnerable to changes in weather patterns, who attended the Kiribati climate conference.
Poverty, illiteracy, vulnerability, famine, chronic disease, shifting cultivation, pollution, waste, lack of water, lack of hygiene: all are words attached to Malagasy society, from the city to the countryside. The living conditions of many people do not allow them to dwell for very long on the large questions, such as climate change. Since daily survival is first and foremost in the minds of the majority of our citizens, climate change is the least of their worries.
We'd also like to hear what your hopes (or fears) are for Cancun. What are the challenges (or opportunities) facing movements that work on both development and the environment? As one commentator who responded to our blog last week on Oxfam's climate court said:
I think the aim is not to ship in disadvantaged people each time there is a climate change related disagreement, but to educate. The fact that climate change is already affecting poorer people around the world NOW is often lost in the political and scientific brou-haha that surrounds anything to do with climate change. This is why organisations such as Oxfam (and many, many others) have decided to speak out and help poorer people adapt to changes.
If you have any problems posting a comment or recording a clip, email us at development@guardian.co.uk

Audioboo Instructions

1. Go to the Audioboo box lower down on this page. If you prefer, record or submit your message to our stream on Audioboo. You can do this via a web browser, iPhone or Android phone app. Speak clearly so we can hear it*
2. Click on Start recording/upload file. You'll be asked to sign up. You can do this with a Twitter account or sign up for an Audioboo account. If you already have an Audioboo account, just log in
3. To record a message click on Got your mic ready? Alternatively, you can send us an audio file by clicking on Rather upload a file? and then using Select a file to locate and upload it
4. Once you've recorded or uploaded your message give it a title and include your name if you wish to be credited. We'd also be interested to know where you're recording your message from. For example, "Educate children because what they learn is going to be vital for the future - Frances Booth, France"
* Please try and keep it constructive/civil. That doesn't mean your message has to be positive or even particularly nice, but we'd like messages to be appropriate for a diverse audience, which means we'd rather you avoided being very offensive if you can help it. There are loads of other places on the web where you can upload edited audio clips, your opinions on the countries or politicians involved and so on, but this group is not for them.
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