By Protus Mabusi
PARIS, France
(PAMACC News) – More finance, capacity building for communities and
institutions and use of technology are vital to making Africa adapt to climate
change.
Speakers during a side event
on "Climate Change Adaptation funding in Africa: Experience from the Least
Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) and
African Development Bank (AfDB)" have expressed the need for more money for
adaptation and resilience building since Africa bears the brunt of climate
change.
The discussion which took
place at the Africa Pavilion at the COP21 in Paris, France and moderated by
AfDB’s David Rugamba focused on adaptation financing needs for Africa and innovative
approaches to adaptation for the continent.
It also focused on building
community resilience in a rural to urban development set-up and the role of
adaptation using a green economy model.
“Africa
bears a disproportionate burden of the adverse impacts of climate change.
Adaptation is therefore of immediate concern to Africa. It is therefore
incomprehensible that of the issues that are so keenly important to the
continent would receive such little global attention. OECD has noted that
currently, only about 14 per cent of the resources mobilised for climate change
is allocated to adaptation,” noted Mr Rugamba, AfDB’s Director of Energy,
Environment and Climate Change.
He added, “It is also on
record that only about 4% of ends up in Africa. To quote my President, Dr
Akinwumi Adesina-“Africa has been short-changed by climate change. It must not
be short-changed by climate finance.”
The director noted that AfDB
has done its part in financing adaption US$2.3billion over the last four years
and lauded donors who have channeled finance through the AfDB and Climate Funds
hosted by the multilateral development banks including AfDB.
“I thank African leadership
through Committee of African Heads of State on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) and
African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) for stressing the urgency
of adaptation in Africa. The African Group of Negotiators stands with the Group
of 77 and China in calling for the new agreement to include provisions for
support to enhance adaptation action and implement approaches to address loss
and damage that is not avoided through adaptation,” Mr Rugamba said.
David Chama KALUBA of Zambia’s Ministry of
Finance and Green Climate Fund (GCF) board member stressed the need for
investing in people.
“We need to invest in people
so that they are able to access risks and be able to determine whether the
projects should focus on floods or drought management or be invested in
economic projects. This way, funds will not go to waste,” Mr Kaluba said.
He added, “We should empower
rural communities with the right technological tools to invest in agriculture
for enhanced food security and seek for alternative sources of livelihoods
other than planting main crops like maize which is vulnerable to climatic
changes.”
Fishani Gondwe, Global
Environment Facility (GEF) council member for Angola, Botswana, Lesotho,
Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe urged
African governments to develop rural areas with a view to facilitating the
movement of people and their products in order to access markets.
“We need to develop
infrastructure like roads with good drainage systems to tackle floods, promote
tourism and save lives,” Mr Gondwe said.
Gustavo Fonseca, Director of Programmes
– GEF Secretariat said GEF is helping countries plan on how they use the money
they get from the institution.
“We have already disbursed
$1.6 billion dollars and 30 per cent of the money goes to adaptation. We are
targeting to achieve 50:50 ratio for adaptation and mitigation,” Mr Fonseca
said.
He revealed that donors have
pledged $248 million dollars and expressed hope that this will help bridge the
gap in adaptation financing.
He also thanked the French
government for pledging to give 25 million Euros to GEF.
Tao WANG, Director of Mitigation
and Adaptation – GCF noted that the institution had mobilised $10.2 billion and
have embarked on projects meant to combat effects of climate change.
“We have accredited 20
national, regional and international entities to help us get this money to the
beneficiaries that include LDCs, small island nations and Africa. We want to
interact more with credit entities, contributing and implementing countries to
make our projects a success,” Mr Wang said.
Ingrid Levavasseur from the
Directorate General Treasury–France said France is working with adaptation
projects should involve communities and the environment and link them to
national action plans if Africa is to move towards green economies.
All the speakers expressed
need for more money to Africa for adaptation, pointing out that the $100
billion dollars already pledged for adaptation and any other funds should be
given to Africa.
They opposed the idea of
50:50 ration, noting that Africa bears the brunt of climate change yet they
contribute less than 4 per cent and that if the continent experiences more than
3 degrees centigrade, more than $10 billion dollars will be required yearly for
adaptation.
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