$30 Million ACP contribution to fight climate change in Africa

The Executive Secretary of the African Carib­bean Pacific (ACP) Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas on 11 February 2013, handed over a Letter of Confirmation by which his institution offers the ClimDev Special Fund the sum of 20 Million Euro ($30 mil­lions) to fight climate change impacts across Africa.

A communiqué issued by ACP in Brussels, said the letter had been handed to Ambassa­dor Ibrahima DIA, head of the ECA-AUC-AfDB joint Secre­tariat in a brief ceremony at the ACP headquarters. The ECA-AUC-AfDB joint Secrétariat was established in 2009 within the framework of the Climate for Development (ClimDev-Africa) Programme. African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) thus becomes one of the most im­portant funding institutions in the fight against the negative impacts of climate change in Africa.

On learning of the « good news » the Co-ordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), Ms Fatima Denton, said this marks an important milestone towards the effective establishment of the ClimDev Special Fund (CDSF).

«I am sure that the Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Carlos LOPES ; the Chair of the Af­rican Union Commission, Dr. Zuma ; and the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Kaberuka would be delighted to know that this amount will kick start the activities of the special fund”, she said.

The Commissioner for Ag­riculture and Rural Develop­ment at the African Union Commission, Mrs Tumusiime Rhoda Peace and Chair of the ClimDev Steering Committee, said she was happy that the de­mand for the funds, the process of which she personally led, had gone through. “This will cer­tainly make other partners and contributors to the ClimDev initiative to look at the future of the Programme with greater confidence. We have to step up our resource mobilisation ef­forts”, she added.

Since the launch of the ClimDev-Africa Special Fund within the framework the three institutions have engaged in an active resource mobilisation campaign in order to raise the $30 Million seed money re­quired to render the Fund op­erational.

The Fund will be adminis­tered by the African Develop­ment Bank. Internal regulations of AfDB require that at least a 20 Millions Units of Account, the equivalent 30 Millions Dol­lars US be made available be­fore the Fund could become functional. Experts predict that the Fund could begin look­ing into financing « bankable » projects as soon as this year, because some projects are al­ready being looked into. The ClimDev-Africa Programme is conceived to promote the col­lection, analysis and dissemina­tion of quality data on climate change.

This news comes as the three institutions prepare for an im­portant session (the fourth) of the ClimDev Steering Commit­tee meeting scheduled for 6-7 March, 2013 in Tunis, Tunisia.
ClimDev partners activities contribute to the objectives of ClimDev-Africa. The Climate Change Desertification Unit (CCDU) of the AUC is respon­sible for leading the activities under the ‘build political will’ action. Political will behind the improvement of climate infor­mation for development at the level of AUC member states and supra-national level of the African Heads of States and Ministerial councils is of para­mount importance to the suc­cess of ClimDev Africa.

The African Climate Poli­cy Centre (ACPC) at ECA is tasked to ‘establish the policy basis’ for actions and invest­ments in climate information and climate resilient policy development. Without this policy basis – that extends to making the economic case for investments in, and policy use of, climate information servic­es – it is unlikely that African countries will adhere to and prioritise the objectives that ClimDev Africa promotes.

The CDSF, which is at the AfDB, provides financial re­sources through grants to na­tional agencies, regional bod­ies and other stakeholders to design and implement climate information services and policy projects. The CDSF will ‘man­age the investments’ through the challenge fund and in so doing, provide the major point of lever­age available to ClimDev-Africa.

These partners are united in the belief that for each of the actions to succeed, there needs to be a lead core organisation, but the other two core partners will support each other’s ac­tions