30 July 2017: Over the month of July, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) approved a number of grants that will support climate and disaster risk resilience in Caribbean countries. The Adaptation Fund, which is celebrating its 10-year operational anniversary in 2017, approved US$20 million in new project funding. Countries in Africa and Latin America will receive support for projects that build on the synergies of sustainable agriculture and climate action.

CDB and EU Support Resilience in the Caribbean

In July, the CDB approved a series of grants that support climate and disaster risk resilience in Caribbean Forum countries and are funded through the African Caribbean Pacific-EU-CDB Natural Disaster Risk Management (ACP-EU-CDB NDRM) programme.

In Jamaica, a €219,000 grant will enable the upgrading of a damaged flood early warning system at a major river. The country will also receive a €332,000 grant for strengthening disaster risk management capacities at a vulnerable municipality through enhanced planning, policy integration, geographical information systems (GIS) and community resilience. [CDB Press Release on Jamaica Flood System] [CDB Press Release on Jamaica DRM Capacity]

Two regional-level capacity-building projects were also approved. The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology will receive €773,000 for strengthening national and regional institutional capacity for weather and climate forecasting and for developing climate early warning systems for the health sector, aimed at predicting mosquito-borne disease outbreaks. Another grant (amount undisclosed) will assist the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency in its work on strengthening emergency response procedures in participating States through planning, development of guidelines and a workshop. [CDB Press Release on Climate Forecasting] [CDB Press Release on Emergency Response Procedures]

Tajikistan, in Central Asia, will also receive support for disaster risk preparedness and climate resilience. Between 1992 and 2016, the country is estimated to have suffered US$41.8 billion in economic losses from natural disasters, including floods, earthquakes and landslides. Funded by the World Bank and implemented with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), funding totaling US$50 million will support proactive approaches by crisis management centers and entities responsible for disaster risk identification. [World Bank Press Release]

Adaptation Fund Turns 10, Approves US$20 Million in New Funding

Also in July, the Adaptation Fund Board approved funding, totaling US$20.4 million, for one country-level and two regional projects. A US$14 million capacity-building project on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border, implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP), will aim to improve food security and autonomy among local populations through reviving traditional and local knowledge with various co-benefits, including climate change resilience. In East Africa, a US$5 million capacity-building project will support the integration of climate resilience measures into transboundary water catchment management. Also, a US$1.3 million project in Senegal will support infrastructure resilience through improving the resilience of mangroves in a number of coastal communities. [Adaptation Fund Press Release]

Marking its 10-year operational anniversary, the Adaptation Fund is publishing a series of articles and short stories.

Marking its 10-year operational anniversary, the Adaptation Fund is publishing a series of articles and short stories that highlight its partnerships and project successes, including the Fund’s work on resilience-building with the UNDP and support to a community lending model in Antigua and Barbuda. The Fund also released two short documentaries that demonstrate how its projects are delivering results in Guatemala by promoting the reintroduction of cocoa production and by supporting community-level adaptive capacities. [Adaptation Fund 10 Years Pages] [Adaptation Fund Video on Cocoa] [Adaptation Fund Video on Resilience Project]

Agriculture and Food Security Efforts in Latin America and Africa Funded

New CDB funding also included a US$295,000 technical assistance grant for Guyana to develop a framework to guide nationwide agricultural adaptation measures. A large share of the country’s population is employed by agriculture, which is threatened by rising sea levels and increasing rainfall and temperatures. The project will identify vulnerable areas and promote the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. [CDB Press Release]

In Zambia, funding was announced for two projects that support food security and climate action. The World Bank announced US$17 million to the Zambia Integrated Forest Landscape project, which will promote climate-smart agriculture and sustainable landscape management practices in the country’s Eastern Province. The project will also aim to generate funds of up to US$30 million through the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund from resulting emissions reductions. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a US$21.2 million loan and US$1 million grant for the Enhanced Smallholder Agribusiness Promotion Programme (E-SAPP), which is also receiving US$3.4 million in co-financing from the private sector. The project will facilitate a transition from subsistence to business-oriented farming and includes interventions to support the integration of climate risk into relevant policies. [World Bank Press Release] [IFAD Press Release]

The Global Environment Facility (GEF)-financed Integrated Approach Programme on Fostering Sustainability and Resilience for Food Security in sub-Saharan Africa was launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Running for five years, the US$116 million programme, which is supported by several multilateral development agencies and banks, will promote sustainable natural resources management, smallholder farmers’ resilience and food security in countries that are facing simultaneous challenges from land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change. [GEF Press Release]

In Kenya, which has been facing severe drought and famine for several months, the African Development Bank (AfDB) announced US$1 million emergency humanitarian assistance for delivery of food aid and water purification supplies. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have previously drawn attention to the role of climate change in exacerbating the drought and humanitarian crises in East African countries, including Kenya. [AfDB Press Release] [Oxfam Briefing on Climate Crisis]

Work on On-the-ground Gender Mainstreaming Advances

A workshop by the CDB-managed, multi-donor Community Disaster Risk Reduction Fund, held in Belize, sought to enable local stakeholders to understand how gender considerations can be integrated into a local adaptive capacity-building project. Interventions highlighted included gender-sensitive infrastructure design, and public awareness and training. [CDB Press Release]

The Nordic Development Fund (NDF) highlighted lessons from a regional project in Asia aimed at harnessing climate change mitigation initiatives to benefit women, which has engaged in policy development, institutional support and gender-inclusive pilot interventions. The regional project has provided lessons for another NDF-funded gender mainstreaming project in Cambodia, which has already resulted in the inclusion of climate change mitigation consideration into two ministries’ gender mainstreaming policies. [NDF Press Release]

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The SDG Knowledge Hub publishes monthly climate finance updates, which largely focus on multilateral financing and cover, inter alia, mitigation and adaptation project financing news and lessons, institutional events and news, and latest developments in carbon markets and pricing. Past IISD climate finance updates can be found under the tags: Finance Update: Climate Change; and Finance Update: Sustainable Energy.