Canada announced Monday in Glasgow, where the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) has been taking place since October 31, funding of 10 million Canadian dollars for the Climate Change Fund in Africa.
The funding that comes from “Engagement Global du Québec” was announced at the Francophonie pavilion in Glasgow where the partners assessed the Fund’s results and prospects, seven years after its creation in 1994.
Global Affairs Canada is also committed to supporting the Fund’s projects that address the impacts of climate change on women and girls.
The support was announced as the third call for proposals on gender equality and climate resilience garnered 399 concept notes, of which 74 were selected. Of the US $ 51.3 million needed to fund this project, only US $ 6 million is available from the Africa Climate Change Fund.
According to Suzanne Stéphane of Global Affaires Canada, Canada is experiencing negative impacts of climate change in its far North and is aware that developing countries, especially those on the African continent, are more vulnerable. She noted that Canada is increasing its funding for the fight against climate change from C $ 2.6 billion for the period 2015-2021 to $ 3 billion.
The third call for proposals from the Climate Change Fund in Africa focuses on improving or even reducing inequalities between men and women concerning access to the resources necessary for adaptation to climate change and the mitigation of carbon emissions. greenhouse gases (GHG).
The Fund’s first two calls for proposals focused on access to climate finance, capacity building and small-scale adaptation. A total of fifteen projects were selected for funding of approximately US $ 7.73 million.
These projects have produced convincing results. Three countries out of the sixteen beneficiaries shared their experiences during this meeting at the Francophonie pavilion in Glasgow.
In Côte d’Ivoire, the Africa Climate Change Fund, among other things, provided US $ 6 million in support for an agricultural development project that benefited 2,600 rice and cocoa farmers. Some 40 national actors have benefited from capacity building in climate finance.
In Senegal, the aim was to “remove the barriers to access to climate finance for local authorities”. Difficulties linked to the centralization of climate governance, scarcity of information to set up bankable projects, deficit of local authorities in setting up projects, deficit in the mobilization of resources, difficulty of access to reliable data and capacity building technical and institutional, were among other challenges.
Participants stressed the need for capacity building for access to climate finance. The Malian Minister of the Environment, Modibo Koné wanted the African Development Bank, initiator of the Climate Change Fund in Africa, to communicate more on the conditions of access to its financing.
He hoped that the processes of acquisition and access to financing would be better explained, accessible and simplified while avoiding numerous procedures.
Mr. Koné stressed that the Great Green Wall project, which has mobilized nearly 75% of its funding, is lagging behind because no concrete action has been taken. According to him, the Climate Change Fund in Africa is a structure that will make it possible to truly fight against climate change in Africa provided that the issue of access to information, understanding and ownership is resolved. procedures for setting up bankable projects. This will allow, he said, that several actors participate in activities to fight against climate change.
The Africa Climate Change Fund is an initiative of the African Development Bank. It was created in 2014 with the aim of supporting African countries in building their capacities on adaptation to climate change in order to enable the transition to sustainable growth with low carbon emissions. The Fund is supported by the governments of Flanders, Italy, Quebec, Germany through GIZ, (which provided seed funding to the tune of $ 6.2 million) and Global Affaires Canada.
The capital of the Africa Climate Change Fund, seven years after its inception, has been increased to US $ 24.9 million.