The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) held its annual meeting from 4-8 April 2008, in Miami, US.
The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrated World Health Day on 7 April 2008 under the theme “Protecting health from climate change.” WHO selected this theme in recognition of the diverse threats to global public health security that climate warming poses, including the changing dynamics of infectious diseases outbreaks; the recurrence of natural disasters; and intensification of deforestation, floods and desertification. 
2008: In accordance with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Strategic Priority on Adaptation, which aims to build up the resilience of small communities vis-à-vis climate change impacts, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has begun implementing the GEF-funded Community-Based Adaptation Project. 
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Vice-President Kanayo Nwanze told participants at the first annual meeting of the African Union/United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, that “A concerted, coordinated and collective effort is the most effective way to tackle the triple scourge of poverty, climate change and high food prices and to guarantee a sustainable future for women, marginalized groups and smallholder farmers in Africa.” 
In his 1 April 2008 address to the UN General Assembly’s thematic debate on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that “development progress is gravely threatened by the effects of climate change and other major environmental challenges.” He highlighted that changes in our natural environment “can have adverse impacts on economic and social development,” and emphasized developing countries’ need for “additional assistance and resources to support their adaptation efforts,” given their limited technological and financial resources. 
Calling for a new business approach to African agriculture, the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) Director of Food Security and Sustainable Development, Josue Dione, said in Addis Ababa that climate change would aggravate the continent’s food insecurity and poverty. In a paper presented at the international conference on “Science with Africa,” Dione said Africa would experience a 10 percent decrease in rainfall in Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa by 2050. 
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