The African Development Bank (AfDB) and Global Centre on Adaptation on Tuesday launched a new initiative aimed at helping African Countries to access more climate adaptation funding.
This was an offshoot to the commitment made by world leaders last November at the COP27 where relevant stakeholders agreed to increase funding for the African Adaptation Acceleration Program, as reported by MAP NEWS.
The launch took place in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on the 6th and 7th of December 6 and December 7, 2022 with program partners including the Green Climate Fund (GCF), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Africa Climate Change Fund, ClimDev Special Fund and Regional Climate Centers in Africa.
In a statement issued by AfDB and seen by this medium, through this initiative, Direct Access Entities in Africa will receive additional support to enhance their capacity with regards to climate data, tools, and methodologies that help them meet the critical requirements of climate rationale for compelling funding proposals that could merit approval by the GCF Board.
The funding will tackles problems created by climate change such as drought flooding in affected countries in the continent.
“The GCF is one of the mechanisms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to significantly contribute to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change. It supports developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change impacts.
“For adaptation, it allocates resources based on: (i) the ability of a proposed activity to demonstrate its potential to adapt to the impacts of climate change by promoting sustainable development and a paradigm shift; (ii) the urgent and immediate needs of vulnerable countries, in particular, Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and African States,” the bank stated.
The AfDB and the Global Centre for Adaptation will work with their partners to select at least four proposals each year based on the pipeline of Direct Access Entities funding proposals that require additional technical assistance and guidance.
Through its Technical Assistance Programme (TAP), the Global Center on Adaptation will provide technical assistance for a selected set of funding proposals.
“23 Direct Access Entities accredited or at the final stage of accreditation to GCF participated in the two-day event with representatives of regional and international accredited entities, including the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the West African Development Bank, the Africa Finance Corporation and the United Nations Environment Program.
In opening remarks,Professor Anthony O. Nyong, Senior Director for Africa at the Global Center on Adaptation said , “Africa is on the frontline of our climate emergency. Through this new initiative, we aim to significantly increase the flow of adaptation finance to the region.
“Given the central role of the Green Climate Fund, the unprecedented volumes of funding it offers, the range of financial instruments it provides, and its different access modalities, we will initially focus this initiative on accessing GCF resources, but this is just the start of our long-term partnership with African countries to mobilize finance for climate adaptation across the continent.”
Dr. Al Hamndou Dorsouma, Acting Director of the Department of Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank, said, “climate rationale for GCF funding proposal is like the foundation of a building. A solid building should have a solid foundation and I am glad our bank has forged the collaboration with relevant regional and international institutions to help direct access entities secure approvals for more funding proposals on adaptation with strong climate rationale.”
Dr. Kevin Horsburgh, Lead Climate Scientist representing GCF, noted, “To promote transformational projects and catalyze climate finance at scale, GCF follows a four-pronged approach: transformational planning; catalyzing innovation; de-risking high impact projects; and aligning finance with sustainable development. Each step needs the best available information to assist decision-making. The GCF is pleased to be working with the WMO to create the bridge between climate information and all those who need to use it, to improve access to climate finance.”
Amir Delju, Senior Scientific Officer with the World Meteorological Organization, said, “Effective and progressive response to the urgent threat of climate change should be based on ‘the best available scientific knowledge.’ We recognize that it is very challenging for least developed countries to meet this requirement. As an expert service provider, WMO will continue providing the full value cycle of climate services, from data to analysis, information production, interpretation of the findings, and expert advice.”
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