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THE African Development Bank has approved the Africa Disaster Risks Financing (ADRiFi) programme, which is the institution’s first climate risk management initiative to boost resilience and response to climate shocks in member countries.
AfDB said in a statement the comprehensive programme, which was open to regional member countries will enhance their ability to evaluate climate-related risks and costs, respond to disasters and review adaptation measures at national and sub-national levels.
“It will also facilitate initial financing for countries in need of support. The programme’s initial phase is expected to run from 2019 to 2023.
“The enhanced resilience and adaptation of countries to the negative impacts of climate change, as well as disaster risk insurance cover, will reduce the vulnerability of the poor to climate change and act as a safeguard against loss of livelihoods in communities, especially for smallholder farmers,” said AfDB.
Nine countries have already expressed interest in participating in the programme — Burkina Faso, Chad, Gambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
“Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change, prone to a wide variety of natural disasters including droughts, floods and tropical cyclones.
“However, disaster risk management suffers from inadequate financing and challenges in the deployment of available funds,” said the bank’s agricultural finance and rural development director Ms Atsuko Toda.
“This programme is a significant step to help reduce exposure and vulnerability of African countries, and will create a system to absorb, adapt and aid recovery of these countries from climate shocks.”
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