(Washington DC, 26 February 2014) The Adaptation Fund has approved financing for critical climate adaptation and resilience activities in vulnerable areas of Cuba, the Seychelles and Uzbekistan.

Contributions from Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and the Brussels Capital Region cleared the way for these initiatives to receive financing.

“Every project that we finance is a critical step toward climate adaptation in developing countries,” remarked Hans Olav Ibrekk (Norway), Chair of the Board, “and we’re grateful to the donor countries that have generously enabled these important activities in Cuba, the Seychelles and Uzbekistan.”

With these projects, the Fund’s portfolio now covers 33 projects and programmes in 32 countries, with a combined value of US$ 217.7 million.

In Cuba, financing of US$ 6 million will increase the resilience of the coastal areas of Artemisa and Mayabeque provinces by addressing coastal erosion, flooding and saltwater intrusion in subterranean aquifers. Projected climate change effects in this area include sea level rise and more extreme weather events. One of the key activities will be re-establishing a 624 ha ‘coastal belt’ of red mangroves, and the rehabilitation of an additional 575 ha of mangrove ecosystem.

In the Seychelles, US$ 6 million of funding will be used to help reduce vulnerability to climate change, focusing on countering water scarcity and reducing flood risk. Projected climate change effects in this island nation include increasingly irregular rainfall, rising seas, and larger storm surges. A key activity will be managing and rehabilitating ecosystem resilience and water harvesting capabilities in water catchment areas covering 3,000 ha.

In Uzbekistan, more than US$ 5 million will finance projects to improve weather monitoring and drought management capabilities, including installing early warning mechanisms, and increasing climate-resilient agricultural and pastoral production systems. Climate change challenges that Uzbekistan will face are projected to include more extreme weather events that will affect farming and livestock production. One of the project activities will encourage landscape-level adaptation measures for soil conservation and moisture retention on over 1,000,000 ha of land.

These activities will be implemented by the UNDP. They are three of eight projects and programmes that were previously approved for funding by the Adaptation Fund Board, but were placed on ‘hold’ due to a cap on the Fund’s financing of activities by multilateral organizations (http://bit.ly/af_pipeline)

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The Adaptation Fund finances projects and programmes that help vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt to the negative effects of climate change. Initiatives are based on the country needs, views and priorities. The Adaptation Fund was established under the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and has committed US$ 217.7 million since 2010 to help vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt to climate change. The Fund is financed in part by government and private donors, and also from a two per cent share of proceeds of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) issued under the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism projects. For more information on the Adaptation Fund, see our publications here: http://issuu.com/adaptationfund

Media contact: Cathryn Poff, Communications, Adaptation Fund Board Secretariat, cpoff@adaptation-fund.org or +1.202.747.4786