By Muhammad Amaan
The Greene Climate Fund has approved $151 million in financing for a major resilience programme supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The aim is to address climate vulnerability in the Horn of Africa.
The AfDB’s Director for Agriculture and Agro-Industry, Dr Martin Fregene, said this in a statement posted on the bank’s website.
Fregene said the approval, granted at the Fund’s 39th Board meeting, comprised a $90.7 million grant and a $60.3 million loan.
“The financing will support the Bank Group’s Building Climate Resilience for Food and Livelihoods in the Horn of Africa programme. Benefitting 4.6 million people across Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
“The Horn of Africa is most susceptible to climate-related risks, such as erratic rainfall, rising temperatures, and increasingly frequent droughts and floods,” he said.
According to him, these conditions have exacerbated socioe-@conomic challenges and threatened the livelihoods of agro-pastoral communities reliant on rain-fed agriculture.
Fregene expressed concern that climate change had led to increased livestock, crop and human diseases, and land degradation, reducing productivity.
He restated the Bank’s commitment to building climate resilience.
“The mobilisation of the Green Climate Fund support shows the continued commitment of the AfDB Group to scale up climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture systems in the Horn of Africa.
“Thereby, improving food security in one of the most vulnerable regions of the planet.
“These resources will further help consolidate the Feed Africa Strategy and complement the Country Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts presented at the Dakar 2 Feed Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience Summit.
“This will support the reduction of poverty and food insecurity while contributing to accelerated sustainable economic growth in the region,” Fregene said.
According to the director, the new financing will support community-driven and gender-balanced resilience solutions.
Dr Anthony Nyong, the Bank’s Director for Climate Change and Green Growth, said the Bank had a long-standing commitment to action on climate change.
Nyong said the bank is also committed to ensuring that we streamline low-carbon and climate-resilient economic development in all key sectors of our work.
He said that the new resources would bolster the Bank’s efforts to mitigate climate change impacts and build resilience, particularly in agrarian communities.
The Green Climate Fund financing will contribute to significant carbon emission reduction.
It will potentially sequester 14.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the project’s 25-year lifetime – equivalent to lifetime emissions of 600,000 cars.
The AfDB will administer the new financing and monitor the programme, which will begin in the first quarter of 2025.
The five target countries, through their respective ministries responsible for finance and agriculture, will implement it over six years with the project interventions expected to benefit targeted communities for 25 years.
