Through the opening of a single window, the African Development Bank (AfDB) wants to mobilise $13 billion to support climate change adaptation actions on the continent, its President Akinwumi Adesina announced on Friday in Dakar.
By Abdourahmane Diallo
Despite its small share of global CO2 emissions, Africa remains the most vulnerable to the impacts of this phenomenon.
According to the Senegalese Minister of the Economy, Planning and Cooperation, Amadou Hott, Africa is lagging far behind in adaptation and is suffering too much loss and damage from climate change.
These are estimated at 7 to 15 billion dollars per year, while it receives little climate funding despite its immense needs.
For Hott, who co-chaired the opening of the 3rd meeting of the 16th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF-16), “it is therefore important that the financial commitments of the Paris Agreement on Climate become a reality and that the continent be a priority in global climate finance beyond the many announcements while allowing it to achieve a fair and equitable energy transition necessary for industrialization and electrification.”
Meanwhile, the AfDB has already taken the lead.
Its chairman, Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina, has announced the opening of a window to mobilise $13 billion to support climate change adaptation actions in Africa.
“These funds will provide the most effective and climate-resilient technologies to some 20 million farmers. They will also have access to insurance against the adverse effects of climate change,” he said at the opening of ADF-16.
Through this project, many hectares of degraded land will be renewed and at least 9.6 million people will have access to renewable energy, Adesina said.
The meeting, which runs until September 17, aims to convince donors to contribute massively to the fund’s accounts.
“I call on development partners to generously increase the resources of the ADF within the framework of this 16th replenishment of its resources,” Hott said, adding that this AfDB instrument also needs its interventions to be optimized to amplify its impact.
“This is why Senegal is calling for more daring and innovative approaches in terms of flexibility in the rules of resource allocation and access of the ADF to international capital markets,” he said.
The Senegalese Minister of Economy also noted the need for the ADF to access capital markets.
“It would create a leverage effect to provide low-income countries with additional and more affordable financing than if they were to go to the market with the obligation to find resources to address the urgent concerns of their populations,” he said.
According to Hott, by accessing the capital markets, the ADF will be able to raise 33 billion dollars, in addition to its own funds of 25 billion dollars.
“It is with this momentum that we will be able to reach a goal of billions to trillions, an initiative launched at the Annual Conference on Financing in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in 2015,” he said.
ARD/te/lb/as/APA