NAIROBI, Kenya – The head of the International Monetary Fund on
Monday proposed a plan for the worlds governments to pool together to
raise money needed to adapt to climate change, a rare step for an organization that normally does not develop environmental policies.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn
said the Fund is concerned about the huge amount of funding needed and
the effect that will have on the global economy. He added that the
proposal may help efforts to reach a binding agreement on climate
change later this year.

Strauss-Kahn proposed that countries adopt a quota system
similar to the one the Fund uses to raise its own money, which could
bring in money faster than proposals to increase carbon taxes or other
fundraising methods. He only provided a broad outline of the plan, as
the organization will release a paper within 10 days with full details.
It is unclear how the proposal will be received.

The
IMF raises funds from its 185 members mainly through a quota system
that is based broadly on each countrys economic size. The United
States is currently the largest shareholder.

"We
all know that (carbon taxes and other fundraising methods) will take
time and we don’t have this time. So we need something which looks like
an interim solution, which will bridge the gap between now and the time
when those carbon taxes will be big enough to solve the problem,"
Strauss-Kahn said. "And that is exactly what the IMF proposal is
dealing with."

He said a climate change accord
reached last December estimated $100 billion a year will be needed by
2020 to fund programs, including those to help poor nations deal with
droughts, flooding and food shortages expected to be caused by climate change.

A
Kenyan anti-poverty campaigner said the IMF should not get involved in
climate change because in Africa it has promoted policies that saw an
increase in the exploitation of fossil fuels, which have contributed to the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change.

"IMF is responsible for the consumption patterns that has generated the current climate crisis
that we face. And they have neither the expertise nor the moral
authority to discuss the issue of climate change," said Vitalice Meja,
the coordinator of Reality of Aid Africa, an anti-poverty advocacy group.

Nations failed to reach a binding deal in Copenhagen
in December, but agreed on a voluntary plan to control greenhouse gas
emissions which are blamed for the gradual heating of the Earth that
scientists predict will worsen weather-related disasters. The accord,
however, included collective commitments by rich countries to provide
billions of dollars to help poor countries adapt to climate change, a
major demand the poor nations had made.

The
more than 190 nations will reconvene in Cancun, Mexico, later this year
for another attempt to reach a binding agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which sets emissions targets for industrial countries and expires in 2012.