22 June 2014: The second Forum of the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) focused on sharing experiences, best practices and new ideas related to adaptation finance, with a view to encouraging greater mobilization of resources to aid countries in coping with the onset of climate change impacts.

The Forum, which was organized by SCF on 21-22 June 2014, in Montego Bay, Jamaica, is a gathering of the bodies and entities working on climate finance and is intended to facilitate information-sharing to promote linkages and coherence. This iteration of the Forum was organized around two days of presentations and discussions, the first day addressing national level adaptation finance options, and the second looking at finance mobilization in specific sectors.

The UNFCCC Adaptation Committee presented on building coherence in the first session, making note of the Committee’s work on National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) finance, as well as its activities to promote coherence. The Adaptation Committee commenced a dialogue with SCF in 2013, which is ongoing. The presentation also gave an overview of adaptation funds provided by the relevant financial institutions under the UNFCCC and noted that current demand exceeds supply.

In the second session, case studies from Zambia, the Petro Caribe Agreement and Nicaragua informed discussions on best practices for mainstreaming climate resilience and adaptation policy into national planning. The meeting then moved to the overall status of public finance at global, regional and national levels and its support of adaptation activities.

Mobilizing private sector finance for adaptation was also discussed, with a summary of the African experience in attempting to bridge adaptation with private equity. The other presentations of this session centered around adaptation as a means of risk management and the role of insurance in adaptation finance.

The parallel sessions held during the second day of the Forum covered: infrastructure in urban areas, including case studies from South Africa and South Australia; water management and human health, including case studies from Pakistan and Colombia; agriculture/land-use, including case studies from the Netherlands, Ethiopia and Jamaica; and energy/transport/industrial development, including case studies from, inter alia, small island developing States (SIDS), Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee (TEC) shared outcomes of their Adaptation Workshop, and the potential of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to generate adaptation co-benefits was also discussed.

SCF was mandated by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) to hold the Forum in order to promote linkages and coherence. The theme of the first Forum, held in May 2013, was ‘Mobilizing finance and investments for climate action now.’ [Second Forum of SCF Website] [IISD RS Sources]