Earth Today | Adaptation Fund board enhances funding options for vulnerable countries

THE 42nd meeting of the Adaptation Fund board concluded recently in Bonn, Germany, with the board approving some US$82 million to support vulnerable countries across 12 new concrete adaptation projects.

They also broke ground in making the Adaptation Fund the first multilateral climate fund to set new dedicated funding windows to foster locally led adaptation (LLA).

“The board established a resource mobilisation target for 2024 of US$300 million, with an added goal of a higher number of contributors than the previous year, to help meet rising global adaptation needs. It further decided to analyse options to potentially grow country and project funding caps in the future,” said a release from the entity from which Jamaica and other Caribbean small island developing states have benefited.

“Additionally, the board made several decisions aimed at making processes to access funding smoother, as well as increasing grant options for developing countries. It also extended funding for one of its small grant partnerships through the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator,” the release said.

Among the 12 adaptation projects approved, half were Direct Access projects that empower country ownership in adaptation through the fund’s accredited national implementing entities (NIEs).

“I was very impressed by the amount of results the board achieved, which will greatly benefit the vulnerable developing countries the fund serves,” said Mikko Ollikainen, head of the Adaptation Fund.

“The board’s decisions signal its ambition to enhance and grow the fund’s excellent work, and will help us reach many more climate-vulnerable communities with needed adaptation solutions over the next year and beyond,” he added.

“With the fund receiving a record demand from countries over the past several years as global adaptation needs have grown, the board decided to enhance funding options for countries that are available outside the single-country cap on regular projects,” the release said.

NEW FUNDING STREAMS

This has included establishing new funding streams for grants to support LLA, which fosters engagement and leadership of local actors and stakeholders in adaptation projects on the ground.

One stream was approved for US$26.5 million and will merge LLA with the fund’s existing funding window on Enhanced Direct Access into an improved and expanded window for the fund’s national, regional and multilateral implementing entities, with up to US$5 million available per project.

The other directs an additional US$35 million to a new LLA global aggregator programme for channeling small LLA grants for entities that are not accredited with the fund, such as CSOs, indigenous people organisations, local governments, community groups and entrepreneurs, among others. The fund will seek expressions of interest from multilateral or regional implementing entities to serve as administrators of the grants.

“With these decisions, the Adaptation Fund becomes the first multilateral climate fund that has fully operationalised the global LLA principles, and the board will further examine options at its next meeting for establishing a third LLA window, aimed at funding regional LLA projects. It will also analyse options for performance indicators of LLA projects,” the release said.

The board expanded funding allocations for its other programmes that are available for countries outside of the country cap, as well.

It allocated US$60 million for its regional projects window, US$30.3 million for large innovation grants, US$1.5 million each for small innovation and learning grants, and US$1 million for scale-up grants. In the process, the board increased the maximum amount allowed per learning grant, from US$150,000 to US$500,000, to help NIEs capture and disseminate practical lessons from adaptation projects on a grander scale.

It further set ranges and increased funding for the fund’s project formulation grants, which are designed to help entities develop project concepts into full proposals. These will be based on project size, ranging from US$50,000 to US$150,000 for developing single-country projects, US$150,000 to US$250,000 for regional projects, and an additional US$100,000 available to further develop LLA project concepts.