Aid specialists support a claim by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that efforts to adapt to climate change could create "millions of jobs" if enough funding is available.
"There is huge potential," particularly in developing countries, according to Poonam Ahluwalia, president of Youth Employment Summit, a US-based group which specialises in the creation of sustainable employment for young people.
"I would like to see a climate change fund that would put money aside to fund youth employment projects in (climate change) mitigation, emission reduction, energy conservation and clean energy production," she said in Doha on Sunday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN Conference on Financing for Development, Ahluwalia said developing countries have been disproportionately affected by climate change compared with countries where carbon emissions are highest, "and that should be reflected in aid funding."
The UN's Ban said in Doha on Friday studies show 10 million jobs could be lost because of the global economic crisis.
Taking strong action to adapt to climate change could lead to renewed growth and implementing the relevant technologies could create "millions of jobs," he said.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told delegates on Saturday efforts to deal with climate change "will fail" unless poorer countries are helped to adapt to the environmental and technological challenges.
A conference on climate change is scheduled to open in Poznan in Poland on Monday, to be followed by a summit next year in Copenhagen, where new emission reduction targets are scheduled to be agreed to follow those of the Kyoto accord.
Ahuwalia said developing countries need help with funding to pay the upfront costs of implementing sustainable technology.
"One project in India is for renewable energy lanterns" which can be assembled locally, creating jobs, but cost $US80 ($A122) - about eight times the cost of a non-renewable lantern. But the renewable lanterns cost very little to operate, "so over time can lead to big savings as well as a reduction in carbon emissions".
Dan Timms, senior spokesman for Oxfam, said the organisation is already implementing many climate change adaptation projects which will maintain existing low-energy occupations or create sustainable new jobs.
"In South Africa, for example, farmers are planting faster-maturing crops, making the most of less-reliable rains. In Bangladesh, villagers are creating floating vegetable gardens to protect their livelihoods against flooding," he said.
Hilde Frafjord Johnson, deputy executive director of UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, said that for poverty reduction goals to be met, jobs must be found for the large numbers of young people in developing countries and adapting to climate change could help fill this need.
