Bonn, June 22, 2011 – The Adaptation Fund Board has decided to accredit the National Environment Fund (FNE) of Benin as the fourth National Implementing Entity and the West African Development Bank (BOAD) as the first Regional Implementing Entity, hence reinforcing the direct access modality it is promoting. The Board has also approved grant funding for concrete climate change adaptation projects from three Asian developing countries, with total value of US$ 17.4 Million.
All three approved projects will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project in the Maldives is planned to ensure reliable and safe freshwater supply for Maldivian communities in a changing climate, through implementing an Integrated Water Resource Management Strategy, focusing on climate change-induced decline of freshwater resources. The project in Mongolia seeks to maintain the water provisioning services supplied by mountain and steppe ecosystems by internalizing climate change risks within land and water resource management regimes. The project will apply the principles of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EBA) to increase climate change resilience at a landscape level. Finally, the project in Turkmenistan is planned to to strengthen water management practices at national and local levels in the context of climate change risks induced water scarcity to farming systems in Turkmenistan.
In addition to the three fully-developed project proposals, the Board decided to endorse six project concepts. Of these, one project concept was submitted by the National Implementing Entity for Jamaica, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), utilizing the ground-breaking direct access modality of the Adaptation Fund, in which countries can access financing directly, without going through international financial institutions. This project seeks to protect livelihoods and food security in vulnerable communities of selected areas in Jamaica by: improving land and water management for the agricultural sector; strengthening coastal protection; and building institutional and local capacity against climate change risks. The Board also approved a Project Formulation Grant request for this project, for US$ 30,000.
The Board continued discussion on the cap on proposals by MIEs, and decided to maintain the general cap of 50% on all MIEs for funding as established in decision B.12/9 and reconsider the issue at its 15th meeting. With the three new approvals, the cumulative funding decisions for projects submitted by MIEs represent 21.8% of the sum of cumulative project funding decisions and funds available to support funding decisions, or US$237.6 million.
The Board also approved the Guidelines for Project/Programme Final Evaluations which was first presented at its 13th meeting in March 2011.
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.