Adaptation Fund Board Greenlights Record 13 Project Submissions, Appoints New Leadership at 29th Meeting

Eight Full Projects and Five Concepts Move Forward as Michael Kracht Becomes New Board Chair and Mikko Ollikainen is Selected as Fund’s Manager

Bonn, Germany (March 21, 2017) — The Adaptation Fund Board meeting concluded in Bonn on March 17 with the approvals and endorsements of 13 project submissions, further enhancing the Fund’s response to assist a rising number of vulnerable communities in developing countries with urgent adaptation needs build resilience to climate change.

The meeting set a record in funding approvals for a total amount of US$ 60.3 million.

Among the decisions was the first approval of a full project proposal under the Fund’s Pilot Program for Regional Projects and Programs, which is aimed at addressing climate change issues that cross borders. The project will help vulnerable farmers and pastoralists adapt to climate change in three countries in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda).

The Fund assumed new leadership, as Michael Kracht of Germany became the Board’s new Chair and Victor Viñas of the Dominican Republic was elected Vice-Chair. The Board additionally selected and approved the selection of Mikko Ollikainen as new Manager of the Adaptation Fund Board secretariat. Ollikainen had been serving as Interim Manager since last October, when longtime manager Marcia Levaggi left the Fund to become Argentina’s Director General of Environmental Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Among other decisions, the Board expanded funding of the Fund’s popular Pilot Program for Regional Projects and Programs by US$ 30 million for FY 2018; appointed an Independent Review Panel of Experts to oversee the overall evaluation of the Fund; approved a Resource Mobilization Action Plan; integrated the Fund’s Readiness Program into all operations; and requested recommendations on approaches for dealing with investment income generated by implementing entities through some projects.

The Board additionally decided to pursue drafting a medium-term strategy for the Fund, after considering a comprehensive preliminary background analysis on possible options. The analysis suggested a strategy that fosters three pillars of the Fund:  Action, Innovation, and Learning. The Board also agreed to explore concrete steps to enhance complementarity and coherence between the Adaptation Fund and Green Climate Fund through bilateral meetings, an annual dialogue, and an assessment of potential practical linkages.

“We had a very productive and successful meeting,” said Kracht, who oversaw his first meeting as Chair. “We had a record number of project funding approvals, which will help us reach more vulnerable communities with urgent adaptation solutions. We selected a new manager in Mikko Ollikainen, who is well-qualified and experienced with the Fund’s work and will help bring continuity and a smooth leadership transition for the Fund. The Board very much looks forward to working with him. The meeting results were an excellent start to the Fund’s 10th anniversary year, which will be commemorated later in 2017.”

Ollikainen has been with the Fund since 2009 and has worked in various capacities, most notably as a Senior Climate Change Specialist and the Interim Manager. “I am very excited and honored to be selected,” he said. “The Fund’s innovative features like Direct Access are some of the aspects that really motivate me to work here. I would like to recognize Marcia Levaggi for her hard work and dedication in building the Fund, and the secretariat staff as a highly motivated, competent group that works together in an efficient, effective manner. I am pleased to see such great results and high quality projects approved from this meeting, and look forward to working with the Board to help continue to move the Fund forward.”

The Board meeting also featured an appearance from Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chair of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Head of the Adaptation Fund Board Secretariat. Ishii said the Fund’s success at COP22, where it surpassed its resource mobilization goal and advanced further toward serving the Paris Agreement, was a clear sign from contributors in recognizing the importance of the Fund’s role and mission in providing concrete, localized adaptation projects to climate-vulnerable countries. She said she hopes the Fund and GEF continue to work together on themes such as gender and other areas. She encouraged the Fund to continue to build on its niche so that it can make the most impact in addressing climate change.

In total, the Board approved eight full projects and endorsed five project concepts. Full projects approved included:

• A US$ 6.8 million regional project to be implemented by the World Meteorological Organization (an accredited multilateral implementing entity or MIE of the Fund) to enhance agricultural resilience in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda in communities that are extremely vulnerable to climate variability, droughts and flooding;
• a US$ 9.97 million integrated approach to community resilience in the northwestern McKinnon’s Watershed of Antigua and Barbuda, utilizing ecosystem-based adaptation, innovative finance and capacity building activities. It will be carried out by the country’s Department of Environment, an accredited National Implementing Entity (NIE) of the Fund’s pioneering Direct Access modality;
• a US $ 9.98 million climate-smart rural development project, proposed by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (an NIE) to increase communities’ resilience to recurring droughts;
• a US$ 9.98 million project proposed by the NIE, Fundación Natura to implement climate resilient water management and food and energy security solutions in Panama’s Chiriqui Viejo and Santa Maria watersheds;
• a US$ 2.94 million project to strengthen livelihoods of vulnerable highland communities in the Arequipa region of Peru, which will be implemented by CAF (Corporación Andina de Fomento, a regional implementing entity or RIE of the Fund);
• a US$ 4.37 million project in Honduras to be implemented by the United Nations Development Program (an MIE) that will utilize ecosystem-based adaptation practices to increase climate resilience and adaptive capacity in Central Forest Corridor communities of Tegucigalpa, which follows a previous Fund project in Honduras;
• a US$ 7.12 million project in Paraguay, implemented by the United Nations Environment Program (an MIE), which will utilize ecosystem-based approaches to improve food security in the Chaco region; and
• a US$ 9 million project to enhance resilience of several vulnerable island communities to drought and flooding in the Federated States of Micronesia, which will be implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (an RIE of the Fund).

Endorsed project concepts included:

• A proposal by the NIE, Micronesia Conservation Trust to pursue practical solutions for reducing community vulnerability to climate change in the Federated States of Micronesia, which included approval of a US $30,000 project formulation grant (PFG);
• a proposal by the NIE, Dominican Institute of Integral Development to enhance climate resilience in the Dominican Republic through water resources management and rural livelihood improvements, which included approval of a US$ 30,000 PFG;
• a proposal by CAF to increase adaptive capacity of communities in Ecuador through ecosystem and community-based adaptation and watershed management;
• a proposal from the MIE, the Inter-American Development Bank to build adaptive capacity of Suriname communities that are vulnerable to floods and sea rise through urban planning and sustainable infrastructure investments; and
• a proposal by the MIE, UN-Habitat under the Pilot Program for Regional Projects and Programs to build urban climate resilience in Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique, which included approval of a US$ 80,000 PFG to develop the concept further.

 Adaptation Fund Board secretariat / Communications:

Matthew Pueschel, mpueschel@adaptation-fund.org or +1-202-473-6743.

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