Oxfam, an organization that works with others to overcome poverty and suffering around the world, said in Bali yesterday that unavoidable climate impacts in all developing countries require at least US$50 billion per year.

Of which rich countries, including the US, Japan, Canada and the EU, should be responsible for more than 80 percent, Oxfam said in the press release during a two-week UN climate change conference in Bali, a resort island of Indonesia.

Assisting poor communities around the world who are already facing climate impacts is an essential element of any future global climate agreement, it said.

Oxfam, a development, relief, and campaigning organization, also welcomed provisions in the climate change legislation passed by the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington yesterday to cut US emissions by 70 percent by 2050 from electric power plants, manufacturing and transportation.

This marked an important step forward in efforts to assist the world's poorest to deal with the impacts of global warming, the press release said.

Ambitious cuts in harmful greenhouse gases is critically important to developing nations as they will bear the brunt of climate change through increased floods, droughts, and ruined livelihoods.

As the world's largest historic emitter, the United States has a responsibility to dramatically reduce its contribution to the problem and also to start helping poor countries address the increasingly severe impacts of climate change, it said.