The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have partnered to establish a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Programme, which aims to identify and examine innovative sources of financing to combat land degradation and desertification in the region.
5 June 2012: Three regional economic communities (RECs), namely the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), have partnered to establish the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Programme, with the support of the Global Mechanism and other development partners.
Launched in April 2012, the programme will seek to identify and examine innovative sources of financing to assist in combating land degradation and desertification. The programme should provide social and economic benefits to small-scale farmers in Southern and Eastern Africa by undertaking conservation agriculture practices, including climate-smart agriculture to improve crop yields and food security throughout the region. The Global Mechanism, which is a subsidiary body of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), will also assist individual countries to design financing strategies to work towards climate-smart investment frameworks.
The COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite partnership has secured US$ 90 million to support the implementation of the programme. Specific activities to be undertaken include implementing climate vulnerability assessments and analysis, relating to land degradation and drought, as well as applying mitigation solutions in the COMESA-EAC-SADC region. [Global Mechanism Press Release, 2 May 2012] [Global Mechanism Press Release, 5 June 2012]