8 April 2010: The Adaptation Fund has issued its first call for project and programme proposals to support adaptation in developing countries. The call follows the decision of the Adaptation Fund Board at its ninth meeting in late March 2010, by which it accredited the first agencies to manage grants from the Adaptation Fund.
The first three accredited Implementing Entities include the “Centre de Suivi Ecologique” from Senegal, a national organization that will be able to propose adaptation projects in Senegal directly to the Board, and to receive funds directly from the Adaptation Fund. The direct access modality is a new and innovative feature in international development finance, designed by the Board to provide countries a simplified and accelerated way to access and manage funds. The accreditation decision was supported by a stringent analysis of the fiduciary standards of the accredited organization, carried out by a panel of experts. Several other developing countries are expected to have their respective entities accredited during the year.
In addition to the Senegalese entity, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank were accredited as Implementing Entities, and they provide an alternative path for developing countries to access finance from the Adaptation Fund.
Farrukh Iqbal Khan, Chair of the Adaptation Fund Board, stated that “We are making history today by granting funds to finance concrete adaptation projects and programs in developing countries, which are based on their national priorities, and may be financed through the ground-breaking direct access modality.” He indicated that funds of US$400 million were expected to be available by 2012, implying that the Adaptation Fund does not have the resources to fully match developing countries’ adaptation needs, but that it was “an important step forward.” He expressed the hope for donors to come forward to help support the Fund.
The Adaptation Fund is a self-standing fund established under the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC, which gets its funding from a 2% share of proceeds of all Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) issued under the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and other sources of funding. The Fund is designed to finance concrete climate change adaptation projects and programmes based on the needs, views and priorities of developing countries. [Adaptation Fund Press Release] [Climate Change Policy & Practice Story on the Adaptation Fund Board’s Ninth Meeting]