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The Marrakech Accords include new funding for adaptation activities under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Tiempo editor Saleemul Huq reports. |
One of the most significant achievements of the eleventh Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and first Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol held in Montreal, Canada, at the end of 2005 was the adoption of the Marrakech Accords. These were originally negotiated in Marrakech, Morocco, during the seventh Conference of the Parties in 2001. They included several new funds for supporting adaptation activities in developing countries. The funds are all managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) is already functioning. It contains voluntary contributions from several Annex 1 countries (industrialized countries that have signed the UNFCCC). It has already supported the development of National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) by the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) using guidelines drawn up by the LDC Expert Group.
The NAPAs are supposed to identify urgent and immediate adaptation actions needed in each country and provide a prioritized list of adaptation projects. In Montreal, four LDCs submitted their completed NAPAs – Mauritania, Bangladesh, Samoa and Bhutan – and the rest are expected to complete and submit their NAPAs during the coming year.
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The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) is for all developing countries and covers adaptation and other activities such as technology transfer, mitigation and economic diversification. The operating rules for the fund have been agreed, and funding for adaptation is classed as a 'top priority' activity. Although no adaptation projects have yet been funded, several candidate projects are being developed.
The Adaptation Fund (AF) is meant to support 'concrete adaptation' activities. It was established under the Kyoto Protocol, whereas the first two funds were established under the UNFCCC. As the Montréal meeting was the first Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, the fund has been dormant until very recently. The fund was discussed in Montréal but operating rules were not agreed. Developing countries feel that it should not be managed by the GEF, while developed countries would like the GEF to manage it. Decision-making was postponed to the next Meeting of the Parties.
The Strategic Priority on Adaptation (SPA) was also recently established by the GEF. It contains US$50 million from the GEF’s own trust funds to support pilot adaptation activities over three years. The fund is already supporting several adaptation projects, but it is unclear whether it will continue after the pilot phase. Projects must also pass the GEF test of 'global environmental benefits' to be eligible for funding.
Further information
All project documents for activities funded under the
Strategic Priority on Adaptation are publicly available.
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