Bonn, Germany, March 16, 2012 – The future of the Adaptation Fund was a major topic of discussion during its latest Board meeting, given the fall in the prices of Certified Emissions Reductions, which comprise the Fund’s primary funding source through a levy on the Clean Development Mechanism. To ensure that the work of the Fund is sustained, and to allow the continued financing of adaptation projects given the demand of more than US $300 million, the Board decided to set a fundraising target of US$100 million until the end of 2013.

The Fund will be soliciting comments from the public regarding optimal fundraising strategies, which will target governments, the private sector, and individual donors.

The Adaptation Fund Board, which held its 17th meeting from March 14-16, 2012 in Bonn, Germany, also welcomed its new chair, Luis Santos, who is climate change program coordinator for the government of Uruguay. He replaces outgoing chair Ana Fornells de Frutos of Spain.

The Board also approved decisions to accredit three National Implementing Entities (NIEs), which are now eligible to access and manage Adaptation Fund financing for adaptation projects without going through a multilateral, or international institution. The entities, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) from Kenya, Instituto Mexicano de Tecnologia del Agua (IMTA) from Mexico, and Unidad para el Cambio Rural (UCAR) from Argentina bring the total number of NIEs to eleven. To assist other countries in achieving NIE status for their institutions, two regional workshops on the accreditation process and direct access to Adaptation Fund financing will take place in the spring for the Asia/Eastern Europe and Pacific regions. The workshops, organized by the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, will allow participants to receive targeted and interactive guidance on the requirements for accreditation from expert members of the Adaptation Fund Board’s advisory body, the Accreditation Panel. The workshops will take place March 19-21 in Manila, Philippines for the Asia/Eastern Europe region and April 23-25 in Apia, Samoa for the Pacific region.

The Adaptation Fund Board approved grant funding for one programme in Papua New Guinea, to be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme. With a total value of USD$6.53 million, the programme aims to enhance the adaptive capacity of communities to climate-change related floods in the North Coast and Islands region of Papua New Guinea. The Board approved a grant of US$29,000 for an NIE, the National Environment Fund of Benin for formulation of a project concept titled “Adaptation of Cotonou Lagoon ecosystems and human communities to sea level rise and extreme weather events impacts.” The project concept, which the Board has endorsed, addresses the vulnerability of Cotonou’s lagoon, along with key economic and socio-administrative infrastructures to mitigate climate risks by protecting shores against floods, among other measures.

Operational for almost two years, the Adaptation Fund Board has approved 18 project/programmes for funding to date, amounting to more than USD$115.7 million.  The Board meets next in Bonn, Germany, from June 26 – 29, 2012 for its second meeting of 2012. As the Board has decided to reduce the number of Board meetings per year to three, the revised schedule of meetings will be available on the Adaptation Fund’s webpage in due course.

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The Adaptation Fund is a self-standing fund established under the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which gets the main part of its funding from a two percent share of proceeds of all Certified Emission Reductions issued under the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism projects. The Fund is designed to finance concrete climate change adaptation projects and programs based on the needs, views and priorities of developing countries. The Global Environment Facility provides secretariat services to the Adaptation Fund and the World Bank serves as its trustee, both on an interim basis.