Adaptation Fund Board Approves 10 New Climate Adaptation Projects at US$ 93 Million in July Intersessional Decisions
Includes 6 Single-Country and 4 Regional Projects in Africa, South America, Caribbean and Asia
Washington, D.C. (July 25, 2019) — The Adaptation Fund Board has approved 10 new concrete adaptation and resilience projects totaling US$ 93 million for the most vulnerable communities in developing countries throughout the globe, in intersessional decisions this month.
The decisions were made over two separate remote intersessional moves on July 8 and July 15. With the new approvals, the Adaptation Fund is rapidly closing in on 100 concrete projects on the ground. It now has 94 projects totaling about US$ 657 million.
Newly approved projects include five first-time Adaptation Fund single-country projects in Indonesia, Saint Lucia, Lesotho, Sierra Leone and Tajikistan. Other projects approved include a single-country project in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and four regional projects in Chile, Colombia and Peru; Argentina and Uruguay; Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique; and Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Three of the regional projects had previously received technical approval from the Board in March, but were put on hold until the new fiscal year began on July 1st and new money became available through the Fund’s Funding Window for Regional Projects and Programmes – which has received consistent high demand from countries for its innovativeness and efficiency in tackling climate change issues that cross borders. A dozen regional projects have been approved since the programme launched in 2015, with a large pipeline of additional regional proposals in the works.
In addition to approving new projects, the Board also held a brief Additional Meeting at the end of June in Bonn, Germany to further procedural arrangements of the Fund in order to ensure it continues to serve the Paris Agreement smoothly. This administrative work served as continuing follow-up to the landmark decision of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement last December in Poland, which recognized the Fund’s important role in international climate finance in deciding that it shall formally serve the Paris Agreement as of January 1st, 2019. The decision helped stabilize the Fund as it transitions from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement, and recognized its valuable niche in funding concrete adaptation projects for the most vulnerable and its pioneering Direct Access modality that builds country ownership in adaptation.
The additional meeting included a dialogue with civil society, which featured presentations from members of the Adaptation Fund NGO Network — including Green Alternative Georgia and Development Alternatives India. Ms. Gitika Goswami, of Development Alternatives India, spoke of the important facilitating role CSOs can play on the ground in the Fund’s projects, and the importance of gender impacts served by the projects. She said participatory planning involving women is key. She said the Fund’s project in West Bengal has also made strides in addressing droughts through water harvesting structures that use both traditional and scientific knowledge.
“The Adaptation Fund Board has continued to have an active and productive summer, and we are really pleased to approve 10 new concrete adaptation projects that will serve the most vulnerable communities to climate change on the ground,” said Adaptation Fund Board Chair Ms. Sylviane Bilgischer. “It was also great to see the Board advance its procedural arrangements to serve the Paris Agreement smoothly, so that we are in great shape as we head toward COP 25 later this year in Chile.”
“With vulnerable countries and communities encountering increased and stronger impacts of climate change, we are seeing rapidly growing demand for funding. Funding these 10 projects is in the core of the Adaptation Fund’s mission, and we are now steadily approaching 100 approved projects,” said Mr. Mikko Ollikainen, Manager of the Adaptation Fund Board. “Not only do the projects provide immediate benefits to the communities they serve, but they also serve as a wealth of information for others in the adaptation community. Learning and sharing those valuable practices is also a pillar of the Fund’s 11-plus years of experience on the ground.”
New projects approved by the Board intersessionally include:
Single-Country:
- A US$ 835,465 community adaptation project in Indonesia focused on forest-food based management in the Saddang Watershed Ecosystem to be implemented by the Fund’s national implementing entity (NIE) under Direct Access, Kemitraan;
- A US$ 9.8 million resilience building and adaptation project focused on addressing climate change and climate variability in agriculture in Saint Lucia, implemented by the Fund’s regional implementing entity (RIE), the Caribbean Development Bank;
- A US$ 5.5 million project implemented by the multilateral implementing entity (MIE) UN-Habitat in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic aimed at building climate and disaster resilience capacities of vulnerable small towns;
- A US$ 9.9 million project by the Fund’s MIE, the World Food Programme to improve adaptive capacity of vulnerable and food-insecure populations in Lesotho;
- A US$ 9.9 million adaptation project by the MIE, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, to promote climate resilience in the cocoa and rice sectors in Sierra Leone; and
- A US$ 9.9 million project by the MIE, United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan to enhance climate resilience of small-scale farmers and pastoralists through an integrated landscape approach.
Regional:
- A US$ 7.4 million project carried out by the Fund’s MIE, the World Meteorological Organization to enhance adaptive capacity of Andean communities through climate services in Chile, Colombia and Peru;
- A US$ 13.9 million project in Argentina and Uruguay by the RIE, Development Bank of Latin America, to foster climate change adaptation in vulnerable coastal cities and ecosystems of the Uruguay River;
- A US$ 13.9 million project by UN-Habitat to build urban climate resilience in Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique; and
- A US$ 11.5 million project to be implemented by the RIE, Sahara and Sahel Observatory, in Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger to integrate climate change adaptation measures in the concerted management of the WAP Transboundary Complex.
ABOUT the ADAPTATION FUND
Communications: Matthew Pueschel, mpueschel@adaptation-fund.org or +1-202-473-6743
Attachments
| Attachment | Type | Size |
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| Press Release July 25, 2019 | 188 KB |