Key Takeaways

• $151 million approved for resilience programme in the Horn of Africa.
• $90.7 million grant and $60.3 million loan.
• To enhance climate resilience and support 4.6 million people in five countries.
• Focus on erratic weather, droughts, floods and agricultural challenges.

The Green Climate Fund has approved $151 million in funding for the African Development Bank’s major resilience programme. This programme will address climate vulnerability in the Horn of Africa.

Approved at the Fund’s 39th Board meeting, the funding includes a $90.7 million grant and a $60.3 million loan. It will support the Bank Group’s “Building Climate Resilience for Food and Livelihoods in the Horn of Africa” programme, benefitting 4.6 million people in Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

The Horn of Africa is highly climate vulnerable with erratic weather, rising temperatures and frequent droughts and floods. These have worsened socio-economic issues and threatened the livelihoods of agro-pastoral communities that depend on rain-fed agriculture.

Dr. Martin Fregene, Director for Agriculture and Agro-Industry at the Bank, said: “The mobilisation of the Green Climate Fund support shows the continued commitment of the African Development Bank 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.”

Fregene said the funding will support the Feed Africa Strategy and the Country Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts presented at the Dakar 2 Feed Africa Summit. This will reduce poverty and food insecurity and drive sustainable economic growth in the region.

The new funding will support gender-balanced, community-driven resilience solutions. This includes sustainable land management practices, access to climate-smart technologies, renewable energy, capacity building for cooperatives, agribusinesses and SMEs, credit, climate services, early warning systems and index insurance.

Dr. Anthony Nyong, Director for Climate Change and Green Growth at the Bank, said: “The Bank has had a long-standing commitment to action on climate change and is committed to ensuring that we streamline low-carbon and climate-resilient economic development in all key sectors of our work.”

The Green Climate Fund’s investment will also reduce carbon emissions and potentially sequester 14.1 million tonnes of CO2 over the 25-year project life – equivalent to the lifetime emissions of 6,00,000 cars.

The Bank will fund and monitor the programme starting in Q1 2025. The five countries will implement the project over the next six years, and the benefits will be felt by the communities for 25 years.

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Source: The African Development Bank