In the race to mobilize resources, the result of the "One Planet Summit" for Africa, with a large-scale mobilization for the Great Green Wall, is to be welcomed.

 

January 11, 2020 - good news for the Great Green Wall - € 11.8 billion commitment

One of the major results of the "one planet summit" is the revival of the gigantic planted forest "Great Green Wall" which should limit the advance of the desert, create millions of jobs and strengthen the resilience of Sahelian communities.

 

13-Mar-2019-Great harvest for the Sahel Climate Commission in the framework of the donors' roundtable. Commitment US$3.41 billion

Sahel Climate Commission Donor Roundtable - The One Planet Summit pledge complements US$3.41 billion in commitments for Sahel financing related to funding the Climate Investment Plan for the Region (CIP-RS 2018-2030), and the Priority Program to Catalyze Climate Investment in the Sahel (PPCI 2020-2025). This is the strategic program of the Sahel Climate Commission. One of the three climate commissions of the African Union. The African Development Bank co-chaired this roundtable of donors on the financing of the Climate Investment Plan for the region. The Sahel Commission covers the geographical area from the Atlantic Ocean to the Horn of Africa. The other two climate commissions in charge of managing climate issues in the regions are i) the Congo Basin region, chaired by the Republic of Congo and ii) the Island States, whose commission is chaired by the Seychelles. The creation of these three commissions was endorsed by the 28th General Assembly of the African Union held on January 30 and 31, 2017. This Program is "the translation of the commitments of our States through the Paris Agreement on global warming", and its overall objective is to contribute to the global effort to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and increase the adaptation and resilience capacities of the Sahel Region to climate change.

 

Biodiversity: The "One Planet Summit" re-launches the "Great Green Wall" mega-project in Africa

In order to see concrete progress in the Great Green Wall project, commitments have been made by the partners in favor of biodiversity. Thus, 11.8 billion euros have been promised by 2025 for the 11 countries concerned, namely Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Chad. The Great Green Wall: A gigantic forest planted between Dakar and Djibouti that should limit the advance of the desert and create millions of jobs. Africa played a particularly central role in the discussions, notably thanks to the "unprecedented acceleration", in the words of President Emmanuel Macron, of the "Great Green Wall" project.

 

13-Mar-2019- The African Development Bank supports the Sahel region in mobilizing resources for climate change resilience.

In the aftermath of the first conference of the Heads of State and Government of the member countries of the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region, held on February 25, 2019 in Niamey, Niger, the African Development Bank co-chaired a donor roundtable on the financing of the Climate Investment Plan for the Region (PIC-RS 2018-2030), and the Priority Program to Catalyze Climate Investments in the Sahel (PPCI 2020-2025) :

 

The financial contributions recorded are broken down in the order of the announcements as follows:

• World Bank: US$1.5 billion;
• European Union: 750 million euros;
• France: 250 million euros;
• AfDB: US$1.3 billion, including US$500 million for the PPCI
• IFAD: US$200 million;
• Swiss Cooperation: US$75 million.

 

World Bank - Accelerating low-carbon, climate-resilient development - Africa's climate business plan

Given the risks posed by current climate shocks - and the even greater challenges posed by future climate change - the gap between actual needs and the flow of resources required to build the continent's resilience to an increasingly hostile climate is alarming. Current levels of funding for adaptation in Africa are estimated at about US$3 billion per year. According to figures from the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the expenditure needed to adapt Africa to a 2°C warming is estimated to be around US$5-10 billion now, up to US$20-50 billion by mid-century, and close to US$100 billion if temperatures rise by 4°C.

 

This Business Plan for Climate in Africa is the World Bank's contribution to closing this financing gap by deploying technical expertise, mobilizing financing from a variety of sources, and facilitating stakeholder engagement for climate action. The Plan emphasizes adaptation, which is consistent with the relative priorities expressed by Africa in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

 

The Congo Basin, the « poor cousin » “Parent pauvre” of desertification/land degradation funding

Please find a review in terms of financing on Adaptation (Climate)  starting from the climate summit in December 2020 and the one planet summit. The major theme in terms of financing has been land degradation, desertification and drought. The Congo Basin is currently a "poor cousin" Parent pauvre in terms of funding (Confirming the now well-established tradition), just as the Congo Basin itself is not benefiting from the pledgings of the last two months in terms of funding. For your information on the $738 million of the Adaptation Fund (since it inception in the framework of Kyoto protocol), the Congo Basin has benefited about only ca. 6%. From a discussion I had during COP 21 in Paris with the Director of the Adaptation Fund, he pointed out the difficulty of the French language to work with the region. Rwanda is therefore the country that currently has a country project of about US$34 million.

The review:

World Climate Summit - 5^th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement and Climate Ambition Summit 2020

Adaptation Fund Raises Nearly US$ 116 Million in New Pledges for Adaptation Action in Most Vulnerable Countries:  

Germany has donated 50 Million Euro and is the largest donor to the Adaptation Fund.  Announcement made by the BMU Secretary of State in December at the Climate Summit. “In announcing Germany’s new EUR 50 million pledge to the Fund, Mr. Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary for Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, said developing countries have been hit incomparably harder by COVID-19 amid increased climate change vulnerabilities and already weakened health systems. As the Fund’s largest contributor, he said Germany is grateful for the Fund’s tremendous support, vision and inspiration. “Already before the COVID-19 crisis, the Adaptation Fund was well-placed to fighting the roots of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19 through making communities more resilient to external shocks by project interventions that reduce water and food dependencies and increase disaster risk preparedness,” he said.

Coinciding with the 5^th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement and Climate Ambition Summit 2020, pledges and contributions to the Fund included those from Germany (EUR 50 million), Italy (EUR 30 million) and Sweden (US$ 15.2 million, a quarter of its four-year pledge made last year), as well as Belgium’s Walloon Regional Government (EUR 3.8 million) and Brussels-Capital Regional Government (EUR 185,000) — totaling an equivalent of nearly US$ 116 million.

 

One planet summit – 11 january

Great Green Wall receives over $14 billion to regreen the Sahel –  AdDB, GCF,  France, World Bank listed among donors – UNCCD

Government of Canada is set to invest up to 55 million Canadian dollars in the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund  (UNCCD).

IFAD and GCF scale-up action to improve life for millions of people and restore ecosystems in Africa’s Great Green Wall - Green Climate Fund.

AfDB: African Development Bank President Adesina named a champion of Africa’s Great Green Wall climate-adaptation initiative. During the forum, Adesina announced that the Bank would mobilize up to $6.5 billion over the next 5 years for the Great Green Wall Initiative, joining multilateral development institutions, governments and development partners that have pledged over $14 billion. The World Bank, for instance, pledged over $5 billion in funding to advance land restoration and degradation issues and to address challenges around Lake Chad.

Sahel region: the African Development Bank pledges to mobilise $6.5 Billion in support of the Great Green Wall Initiative.

At political level a UNGA resolution on implementing UNCCD- UNCCD.

U.N. chief calls for more climate finance for poor nations as 2020 goal slips - Guterres calls for $100 billion in climate finance to support developing nations.