Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga, Acting Business Editor
THE Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) has approved seven new project proposals amounting to about US$4,7 million to finance climate-resilience and low carbon development in countries in the region.
Last October, AfDB announced a US$12,5 billion commitment towards boosting climate change funding programmes in Africa for the next five years, starting this year.
In a statement, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said the approval of the projects, increases ACCF’s overall portfolio to 15 projects.
“These projects demonstrate how the ACCF helps regional member countries to finance climate-resilient, low-carbon development.
“They will expand the ACCF’s geographic reach and diversify its field of intervention. The projects align with the bank’s Strategy 2013-2022 and Climate Change Action Plan 2016-2020,” said AfDB.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries in Southern Africa that stands a chance to benefit from the ACCF resources taking into account the adverse effects of climatic change witnessed so far.
The projects among others include building climate resilience through youth and women farmers.
“The project will contribute to building an inclusive and climate resilient ecosystem for food security and sustainable growth, strengthening collective entrepreneurial capacity of farmer associations,” it said.
AfDB will also use syntrophic agriculture as a strategy to foster resilience, climate adaptation and recovery of vulnerable communities living in degraded marine and coastal ecosystems in Mozambique.
“This project will improve the environmental resilience and economic sustainability of smallholder families using scaled-up ‘gender-oriented eco-governance productive model’.”
AfDB has noted that many African countries are facing extreme weather patterns, and need urgent interventions hence the bank has launched the Africa disaster risk facility.
AfDB’s project on climate change involves building early warning systems so that African governments know of emerging threats and an insurance scheme to provide payouts when drought, floods and other calamities strike.
The regional financier has also noted that policy-makers generally take two approaches to climate change and these were mitigation, which involves cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases to limit temperature rises and adaptation which is the process of preparing for a warmer planet. — @okazunga
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter