New funding to help Africa adapt to climate change announced

23rd September 2022 By: Rebecca Campbell - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

New funding, totalling $55-million, to help African countries to adapt to the effects of climate change, was announced by four West European countries at the Africa Adaptation Summit earlier this month.

The summit, held in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, was organised by the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) and was attended by leading figures in governments, businesses and the United Nations (UN).

In order of the size of their contributions, the donor countries concerned were the UK, allocating $23-million, Norway, assigning $15-million, France, with $10-million, and Denmark, with $7-million. The GCA expected that this State funding would allow it to mobilise a total of up to $5-billion to fund climate adaptation projects across the continent.

The summit was held two months before the next UN Climate Change conference, COP27, which will be hosted by Egypt at Sharm el-Sheikh. The African Development Bank has launched the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme (AAAP), which seeks to mobilise $25-billion in financing to greatly expand climate change adaptation programmes across the continent.

“You have to adapt or die,” asserted African Union chairperson and Senegalese President Macky Sall at the summit. “We do not have the choice. Our time to act is coming to an end. Africa must prioritise adaptation. Africa needs to invest massively in adaptation and resilience. “As chairperson of the African Union, I urge Africa’s development partners to fully fund the AAAP and make it an exemplary model of what is possible when we collaborate.”

“If we want Africa to thrive, we must adapt to climate change,” affirmed Ghanaian President and Climate Vulnerable (countries) Forum chairperson Nana Akufo-Addo. “Africa must close the adaptation financing gap. We cannot wait. “I look forward to the swift implementation of the AAAP. The fate of our continent and the planet depends on it.”

Africa was regarded as the continent most vulnerable to climate change. Nine of the ten countries assessed as being most vulnerable to the effects of climate change were in Africa. Food expenses already consumed 75% of the income of the poorest people across the continent, while more than 20% of Africans were already “food insecure”. Africa was already under pressure from multiple economic and health, as well as climate, crises.

“Africa is unstoppable. But Africa is ground zero for global climate breakdown,” highlighted GCA CEO Professor Patrick Verkooijen. “Nobody benefits if Africa fails to tackle it. Climate fallout in Africa cannot be contained so adaptation action can and must scale at breakneck speed across the continent. “The world has to double down on adaptation at the UN climate summit in Egypt just weeks away. “We need an adaptation delivery breakthrough for Africa at COP27. “That means adaptation finance visibly flowing in Africa.”