Short Changing the Planet

In 2001 the UN set up two special funds to tackle climate change.

Industrialised countries promised to pay 410 million US dollars every year towards them to help tackle the problem.

But have these countries paid up?

The BBC World Service has been investigating the controversial issue of whether poor countries have ever seen all of that promised money. According to some less than 10 percent of it has been paid: others disagree.

At next month's crucial climate change talks in Copenhagen, money will be high on the agenda.

If previous promises made by rich countries are anything to go by, the world’s developing nations could be short-changed.

Journalist Rob Young goes to one country in urgent and immediate need of cash to deal with its climate crisis: Liberia.

Its towns and cities are at risk of being engulfed by rising sea levels. How much of this special money has it seen?

As new pledges are being made to save the planet at Copenhagen, what lessons can be taken from this 2001 episode?

First broadcast 25 November 2009