Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros is right (Poor Countries Turn Funding Gap Into Battle Cry - Dec. 11). The success of the Copenhagen climate-change conference will be judged by what rich countries choose to do, or not to do, to strengthen the resilience of the world's poorest countries. The "quick-start" fund of $10-billion a year proposed by Commonwealth countries, including Canada, is barely better than nothing, given that the costs of adaptation could amount to 10 times as much.

As host of next year's G8 and G20 meetings, Canada is in an enviable position to exercise leadership. New and innovative sources of funding need to be mobilized.

Mr. Soros's idea of allocating to the poorest countries $100-billion of the $250-billion in the IMF's unused foreign-exchange reserves should quickly be approved. Another idea is implementing a currency transaction tax.

The North-South Institute has calculated that if such a tax were implemented by the richest countries, it would generate at least $33-billion a year in additional revenues.