Climate-battered nations hunt elusive cash to adapt at UN talks

Climate-battered nations hunt elusive cash to adapt at UN talks

"Humanitarian actions are insufficient to address the losses - additional support, especially finance, is needed," she added.

From storms wrecking homes and crops in unprepared island communities to as many as 20 million people facing hunger in the Horn of Africa after four failed rainy seasons, the world's poorest are suffering the fallout of a heating planet.

Yet they are still not receiving anything like the amount of financial help they need to protect them from a problem they did not cause, U.N. and government officials from those nations say.

The Pacific island state of Vanuatu, which was hit by an out-of-season cyclone in late May, declared a climate emergency soon after, reflecting the toll of storm damage and drought over the past decade on its people, who also face rising seas.

"We are finding more and more of our country is simply not safe enough to live in - so simply finding a safe place to live is the new objective for many communities," said Vanuatu opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu before the Bonn talks began.

He called for more international funding for purchasing land and building stronger infrastructure and services that will not be destroyed by heavy rains and storm surges.

GLARING GAP

Aid experts say