Bonn, Germany, June 29, 2012 – The Adaptation Fund Board has approved a grant of nearly US$10 million to the Planning Institute of Jamaica for a programme that will introduce measures to protect livelihoods and food security in communities on the Caribbean island that are particularly vulnerable to the ill effects of climate change. The project will focus on improving land and water management for the agricultural sector, strengthening coastal protection, and building institutional and local capacity for climate change adaptation in the parishes of Westmoreland, Manchester, Clarendon, St. Mary, St. Ann, Trelawny, and St. Thomas.
Jamaica is the latest country to succeed in securing “direct access” financing from the Adaptation Fund, meaning that a national institution (Planning Institute of Jamaica) will be entirely responsible for project implementation and supervision, rather than relying upon technical assistance and expertise from international institutions. Senegal and Uruguay have also launched climate-change adaptation projects using direct access. Adaptation Fund Board chair Luis Santos said he was very encouraged to see technically strong adaptation programmes developed at the domestic level. “This approval represents the steady progress the Fund has made in operationalizing the direct access modality,” Santos said.
The Board also approved US$40.7 million in grant funding for six projects/programmes implemented by multilateral institutions. The approved projects will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme in Colombia and Djibouti, the United Nations Environment Programme in Cambodia, the World Food Programme in Egypt and Mauritania, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Lebanon. The projects confront various climate change impacts such as flooding and drought.
The Board, which held its 18th meeting from June 26-29, 2012 in Bonn, Germany, accredited its 12th National Implementing Entity, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in India. NABARD is now eligible to access funds directly, without the involvement of a multilateral or international institution.
The Board also decided to offer Adaptation Fund certified emissions reductions (CERs) specifically for purchase by governments and continued discussions over how to meet the ever-increasing need for adaptation funding in developing countries. The Board considered the elements of its new fundraising strategy, including engagement with donor countries, as well as innovative measures to compliment a two-percent levy on transactions in the carbon markets that provides the bulk of the Fund’s resources.
To kick off its meeting, the Board held a public dialogue with civil society attended by non-governmental organizations from a variety of countries with ties to the Adaptation Fund: the Environmental Development Action in the Third World (Senegal); Fundacion Vida (Honduras); Panos Caribbean (Jamaica); Organisation des Femmes pour la gestion de l’Energie, de l’Environnement et la promotion de Développement Intégré (Benin); Indigo (South Africa); and GermanWatch.
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The Adaptation Fund is a self-standing fund established under the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which receives most of its funding from a two percent share of proceeds of all Certified Emission Reductions issued under the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism projects. The Fund is designed to finance concrete climate change adaptation projects and programs based on the needs, views and priorities of developing countries. The Global Environment Facility provides secretariat services to the Adaptation Fund and the World Bank serves as its trustee, both on an interim basis.