The African Development Bank (AfDB) has disclosed it is ready to commit resources to save people and the planet. And to device means of creating wealth for Africa.
Al Hamndou Dorsouma, the Officer-in-charge for Climate Change and Green Growth at the AfDB, made this bare at the ‘Africa Climate Week 2021’, hosted by the government of Uganda.
The deliberation under this event precedes the COP26 climate conference to be held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, from 31st October to 12th November 2021.
“The Africa Climate Week presents us an opportunity to dialogue with partners to generate a pipeline of transformative projects and programs that will deliver Africa’s post Covid-19 recovery.”
Al Hamndou Dorsouma
This, Al Hamndou revealed, is in line with Africa’s Agenda 2063, for the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Paris Agreement goals.
Also, Sam Cheptoris, Minister of Water and Environment of Uganda, stated the need for stakeholders to carefully consider the impact of global warming on the planet.
“We have seen recently that the world is not on course to limit [global] warming to as close to 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible, as laid out in the Paris Agreement.
“This increases risk of severe impacts at a moment in which we are looking to grow quickly. For Africa, this is a generational crisis and one we will have to adapt to.”
Sam Cheptoris
Mr. Cheptoris stated that, “in the face of the climate crisis, Africa must come together and chart a course to low-emission growth that is good for all Africans and the world”.
The AfDB held side events and sessions alongside the main event with strategic partners.
The AfDB partnered with the African Union Commission, UN Economic Commission for Africa, UN Development Program, UN Environment Program, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and World Bank Group.
Gender biasedness with climate finance
Davinah Milenge, the principal coordinator of the AfDB’s Africa Nationally Determined Contributions Hub, shared best practices on crowding in gender-responsive adaptation finance.
The AfDB’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) Ghana project, which offers innovative financial products and services to assist women’s adoption of climate-smart agricultural technologies and practices, was cited by Milenge.
Milenge made these submissions at a side event on mobilizing gender-responsive climate finance hosted by the UN Development Program and the UK government.
Meanwhile, a panel discussion organized by the AfDB and the UN Population Fund, focused primarily on enhancing gender-sensitive and health adaptation responses in Africa.
This panel deliberations highlighted the need for more data on gender-sensitive indicators to improve climate adaptation responses.
Gareth Phillips, the AfDB’s Manager for Climate and Environment Finance, called on stakeholders to commit resources to provide communities with gender and health inclusion solutions.
Dr. Olufunso Somorin, the Bank’s Regional Principal Officer for East Africa, highlighted the Bank’s collaborations with financial intermediaries across the continent.
The AfDB, by partnering with these financial intermediaries, Dr. Olufunso disclosed, offers concessional loans through them to local companies interested in climate action.
Access to finance, including the $100 billion annual pledge made by developed countries at COP15, will be central to the agenda of the upcoming COP26 conference, Dr. Olufunso hinted.
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