26 October 2017: During the month of October, projects funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) kicked off in the Pacific and Africa. Other adaptation finance news included a Caribbean risk insurance facility receiving additional grant funding, and the Brazilian state of Paraíba setting out to improve agricultural resilience through a World Bank loan. A policy brief from Adaptation Watch identified a number of barriers to the provision of adaptation finance in Southeast Asia.
GCF Signs Legal Frameworks Enabling Funding Transfers to Pacific Adaptation Projects
The GCF and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a Funded Activity Agreement (FAA), which will provide the legal framework for funding transfers from the GCF to a US$222 million water infrastructure adaptation project in Fiji, through the ADB. On the occasion, the ADB announced it would “more than double” the level of climate financing mobilized for the Bank’s Pacific developing member countries, to over US$500 million in 2017-2020. The GCF also signed an FAA with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), which will enable the SPREP to receive the first tranche of funding to a US$26.6 million adaptation project in Vanuatu. [GCF Press Release on Fiji] [ADB Press Release on Pacific Funding] [GCF Press Release on Vanuatu]
CDB Funds Risk Insurance, UNDP Supports Early Warning Systems
In the Caribbean, Mexico and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will fund CCRIF SPC, formerly known as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, through a US$14 million grant. The insurance coverage provided by the CCRIF, when triggered, provides short-term liquidity to limit the financial impact of catastrophic natural events. [CDB Press Release]
In Malawi, a project was launched to support the modernization and scaling up of climate information and early warning systems across the country. Supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and co-financed by the GCF, it will focus on the use of climate information for agricultural planning and weather-related warning and forecasting systems, including the ones based on mobile phone platforms. [UNDP Press Release on Malawi]
In Samoa, another UNDP project funded by the GCF kicked off. It will support flood proofing of infrastructure, and will see the establishment of a health surveillance system to monitor flood-related health issues. [UNDP Press Release on Samoa]
The World Bank reported on its Hydromet, Climate Services and Resilience programme in South Asia, which incorporates two areas of interventions: national-level preparedness, resilience and services; and regional cooperation. Related activities have included projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, regional capacity building of hydromet institutions and a study on transboundary flood early warning systems. [World Bank Press Release]
Latin America and Caribbean to Boost Agricultural Resilience, Climate-smart Agriculture
In Brazil, the World Bank approved a US$50 million loan that will support 44,000 rural families in the state of Paraíba, where climate change is expected to further increase water insecurity, through improved water access, reduced agro-climatic vulnerabilities and increased access to markets. [World Bank Press Release]
In Jamaica, INMED Partnerships for Children, with the CDB and other partners, launched a programme that supports smallholder farmers to establish climate-smart aquaponics (fish farming combined with soilless, water-based crop production) businesses. Compared to traditionally farmed plots, aquaponics requires 85-90% less water consumption, and produces year-round crops that are resilient to floods and drought. [CDB Press Release]
Barriers to Provision of Adaptation Finance Identified, Experiences in DRM Shared
A brief by Adaptation Watch identifies five common barriers to provision of climate adaptation finance and governance across Southeast Asia, namely: changing definitions of adaptation finance, which complicate needs assessments and tracking; difficulties in connecting the different “scales” of climate change to adaptation finance, for example local needs to international policy structures; fragmentation of the landscape of financing institutions; institutional challenges in securing funds for smaller projects; and the lack of clear guidelines on what adaptation is or how to measure its benefits. [Financing from the Ground Up – Experiences in Adaptation Finance from Southeast Asia]
In Cambodia, a conference on community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) and adaptation brought together experts and practitioners from Cambodia and the Mekong region to share experiences in implementing CBDRM. A delegation from Zambia also participated in the event, which was organized by the Cambodian Government in partnership with the ADB and with support from the Climate Investment Funds’ Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (CIF/PPCR). According to the CIF, the event “offered new evidence that empowering communities with a mix of technology and information tailored specifically to the local threats” can boost their resilience. [CIF Event Press Release] [CIF Story on CBDRM Conference]
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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.