A new multi-billion dollar fund is needed to support local communities’ efforts to cope with the devastating effects of climate change, says a Christian Aid report today, at the start of a round of international talks on tackling the crisis.

Some poor communities in developing countries are already successfully adapting to the increasingly harsh climate but many more need support to adapt and develop in ways which will not exacerbate global warming, the aid agency says.

"Local communities need to become a central part of the international action agreed at Copenhagen and not an afterthought," says the report’s lead author, Dr Alison Doig.

"They are not just the victims of climate change – they also have a significant role to play in the solutions."

Christian Aid is calling for the UN climate talks in Copenhagen to create a new Sustainable Development Innovation Facility, which would receive 10 per cent of each developing country’s climate funding.

The Facility would be funded by rich countries, as part of their overall contribution to helping developing countries cope with climate change and to develop in ways which are relatively climate-friendly. Christian Aid believes that rich countries’ overall annual contribution should amount to more than 110 billion Euros.

The report, 'Community Answers to Climate Change,' says money from the Facility would be channelled through community-based organisations, civil society groups, local private companies and local governments. It would be used to support pilot projects of innovative approaches to climate change adaptation and mitigation and to support the extension of existing projects.

The report comes as three key international meetings are due to take place. World leaders are meeting today (Tuesday 22) at the UN’s high-level climate summit in New York. On 24 and 25 September, the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh will also discuss international action on climate change. Then, on 28 September, the latest round of formal UN climate negotiations will open in Bangkok, Thailand.

Campaigners say that negotiators should agree on a plan of the sort described by the Christian Aid report to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable communities are not left behind by the global response to climate change.

Dr Doig adds: "This report includes a host of inspiring examples of how poor communities are already adapting to climate change and developing in ways which are environmentally sustainable. Many more people could benefit from the sort of solutions they have discovered, if the financial and political support were available."

Examples cited in the report include drought-prone eastern Kenya, where non-governmental organisations are building sub-surface dams in the beds of seasonal streams, which catch rainfall and help to improve water supplies.

Each dam benefits around 630 people and helps communities to grow trees to replace those cut down for charcoal burning when people need income for food.

The report also points out that half of rural homes in India still lack electricity but in the state of Orissa, an organisation called Gram Vikas is providing homes in remote villages with piped water supplies, using stand-alone pumping systems powered by solar, gravity flow or biodiesel. Where solar power is used, homes can also have lighting.

In Nicaragua, which is likely to face more intense hurricanes in future, the Movimiento Comunal Nicaraguense has helped 35 communities to become disaster-resilient. Local people have been trained and flood-risks mapped, enabling communities to plan for disasters. In addition, cyclone shelters have been built, river banks sandbagged, flood-prone houses relocated and trees planted in flood-prone areas.

In Zimbabwe, Christian Aid partner organisations have been working with communities in several districts to introduce them to conservation farming methods which improve soil structure and dramatically increase crop yields. At least 5,000 farmers have been trained, mostly by other farmers.

The new report argues that the Sustainable Development Innovation Facility should also be used to help civil society – including the most marginalised and vulnerable groups - to participate more effectively in local and national decision-making on climate change.

"There has to be a clear path away from an approach which has been seen too often in recent years – that of producing a ‘climate change plan’ written by expensive international consultants appointed by a donor and then shelved and never delivered," it states.

In addition, the report stresses the importance of the Sustainable Development Innovation Fund being transparent, so that the citizens of developing countries can easily find out how much money has been given to whom, and for what purpose. "It is necessary that climate change funds are seen as belonging to citizens and not just countries," it urges.