On the sidelines of the 2022 edition of Africa Climate Week(link is external), a session titled Limiting Loss and Damage through Enhanced Adaptation Action in Africa featured vibrant and timely discussion of an aspect of climate change that typically receives little attention: capturing and assessing the costs and damages associated with climate change.   

The African Development Bank and Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation hosted the event, which provided a forum for panelists and participants to discuss the importance of defining and evaluating such losses and damages of properties, economies, lives and livelihoods due to climate disasters. Africa is acknowledged to be the continent most vulnerable to climate change.

Moderator Olufunso Somorin, a Regional Principal Officer at the African Development Bank, opened the discussion. He pointed out that it is important for African countries to measure climate-change related loss and damage to enable appropriate quantification and well-designed responses best suited to country context. It was also important to capture those losses occurred even in instances where preventive climate adaptation actions had been taken, he added.

Fatten Agad, Africa Climate Foundation’s Senior Advisor on Climate Diplomacy and Geopolitics, called for production of a report that would serve as guidance and baseline for evaluating climate related losses and damage. “It has already been demonstrated that the socio-economic impact faced by African countries in coping with the Covid-19 crisis has been very high, and adding a burden of financing something such as loss and damage would be unfair,” she said.

Anja Beretta, Konrad Adenauer’s Director for Energy Security and Climate Change in Africa, urged African countries to integrate mechanisms to address losses and damage into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). She also called for designated institutions and functioning structures to ensure the efficient and effective use of climate finance to advance the discussion on financial flows into loss and damage.

Stephane Bonamy, Head of the Regional Delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Cameroon, said, for countries that face both conflict and climate change impacts, it is imperative that preventive measures are put in place early enough to reduce the extent of loss and damage faced and lessen the burden on communities.” He noted that 14 of the 25 most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts worldwide also face some form of conflict.

Dr Olumide Abimbola, the Executive Director of the Africa Policy Research Institute in Berlin reiterated the need for more African examples of past and current loss and damage to be incorporated into textbooks and journals.

There was agreement among the participants on the need for Africa to prioritize timely, comprehensive and large-scale adaptation action to avert or minimize future losses and damages.

There was also consensus on the urgent need to scale up financial flows from public and private sources into adaptation action across Africa. They cited the African Development Bank’s Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, a joint initiative with the Global Center on Adaptation, as a positive example. The program seeks to mobilize $25 billion over five years to accelerate and scale climate adaptation actions across the continent.

Participants also called for new strategic partnerships to drive adaptation policies, plans and investments in Africa through the implementation of NDCs and tapping synergies with such initiatives as the Africa Disaster Risk Financing program.

About the African Climate Week (ACW)

ACW is an annual event that engages and empowers stakeholders to drive climate action across countries, communities and economies. The event is organized by UN Climate Change in collaboration with global partners UN Development Programme, UN Environment Programme and the World Bank Group. Partners in the region include the Africa Union, the Africa Development Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). ACW 2022 was hosted in Gabon.

What:      Africa Adaptation Dialogue: implementing the vision

When:     31 August 09:30 - 10:30 CAT

Where:    Libreville, Gabon

Who:       Global Center on Adaptation; Africa Adaptation Initiative (Chaired by Gabon); African Development Bank

Despite contributing the least to global warming, Africa finds itself on the frontline of the climate emergency, with the impacts of external shocks exacerbating these vulnerabilities. Indeed, large portions of Africa—particularly the drylands that cover three-fifths of the continent—are warming at a rate twice the global average, putting half a billion people at risk.

Chaired by Gabon, the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI) aims to strengthen collaboration on adaptation across the continent. To implement this vision, the Global Center on Adaptation and the African Development Bank have jointly developed the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program – AAAP. This Africa-led, Africa-owned response is mobilizing $25 billion for climate adaptation investments in the continent over five years. This event will review progress of the AAAP and how it is contributing to narrowing the finance gap, thus accelerating the implementation of AAI.

Program

• Welcome Remarks by the Moderator

Davinah Milenge Uwella – Principal Programme Coordinator, African Development Bank

• Opening Video
• Opening Remarks

Dr. Kevin Kariuki – Vice President, Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth, AfDB

• Framing remarks: The Africa Adaptation Initiative and the AAA

Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale – Special Advisor to His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of the Gabonese Republic, Permanent Secretary of the National Climate Council

• The AAAP as the vehicle to implement the AAI vision

Prof. Anthony Nyong – Senior Director, and Africa Regional Director, Global Center on Adaptation

AAAP voices from the field

• AAAP partners and beneficiaries

Moderated discussion with participants

• Wrap up by the Moderator

Draft Program

Winners of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program’s 2021 YouthADAPT Challenge have received training to equip them to produce and scale climate-related innovation and create green jobs.

The challenge competition awards business grants of up to $100,000 to young entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in Africa to develop innovative solutions on climate adaptation and resilience.

During the three-day workshop, the 2021 winners – 10 representatives of enterprises from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya and Zambia – received training in financial management and fundraising. Winning enterprises also received training on budgeting and cash flow projection, record keeping, and executing solid business plans.

The 10 entities are developing solutions in critical social and economic sectors affected by climate change, including agriculture; waste management; water resources and sanitation; renewable energy and energy efficiency; waste management and ecosystem restoration. Half of the enterprises are women-led businesses. 

The training also instructed participants in how to position their enterprises in the market in order to offer an attractive funding proposition.

Ifeoluwa Olatayo of Soupah Farms-en-market in Nigeria, said she learned a lot during the training, including “how best to review the company’s finances and budget against unexpected shortfalls.”

Another participant, Juveline Ngum Ngwa of Mumita Holdings Limited in Cameroon, acknowledged the importance of budgeting in her enterprise’s overall success and security. “It allows us to better understand whether our business has enough revenue to pay its expenses,” Ngum Ngwa said.

Carolyne Mukuhi of Kimplanter Seedlings in Kenya said: “We look forward to this great journey towards a successful, impactful climate-adaptable business. A great world together.”

In addition to the training, the winning enterprises will be provided with mentorship and support to expand partnerships, knowledge sharing and learning through a network of young entrepreneurs in climate adaptation. The challenge also offers its winners an opportunity to participate in a 12-month business accelerator program to help them scale up their businesses, deepen their impact and create decent jobs.

An annual competition, the challenge falls under one of the pillars of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, namely empowering youth for entrepreneurship and job creation in climate adaptation and resilience. The strategic goal is to strengthen inclusive growth and broaden investment and economic opportunities for youth in Africa by providing training, mentorship, and financing to youth-led businesses.

The Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program is a partnership between the African Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation.

The African Development Bank’s contribution to the YouthAdapt Challenge was sourced from the Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-donor Trust Fund.

The Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) hosted a session titled, “AAAP: Transformative Adaptation to Accelerate and Scale Climate Action” at the Virtual Gobeshona Global Conference on 29 March. The session focused on policy shifts, the enabling environment, financing, community engagement and private sector involvement to accelerate and scale climate adaptation in Africa.

The session brought together policy makers, sustainable financiers, climate resilience experts and youth advocates to discuss the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that calls for increased speed and scale in implementing adaptation actions.

“Climate change impacts are already occurring, faster and more severely than previous IPCC reports indicated,” said Dr. Rebecca Carter, the Acting Director, Climate Resilience Practice at the World Resources Institute, setting the scene for the session. “This new report makes it clear that we are already facing irreversible losses and damages to human societies and ecosystems around the world, “Carter added.

Prof. Philip Antwi-Agyei, an Associate Professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and Lead Author of IPCC’s special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C said there is the need to incorporate indigenous knowledge with scientific knowledge to develop the most effective adaptation interventions and solutions.  Farmers, use indigenous knowledge to predict drought and rainfall and this knowledge is important for adaptation action, Antwo-Agyei added.

Zambia Ministry of Green Economy and Environment official Chitembo Kawimbe Chunga said adaptation should be integrated into local and national development plans.

She added that laws, policies and regulations on adaptation exist in Zambia that show where and how to adapt. Zambia is working with development partners including the African Development Bank to explore best practices for adaptation and resilience building among communities. Chunga is also the National Coordinator of both the Transforming Landscapes for Resilience and Development and the Zambia Strengthening Climate Resilience projects.

The audience followed presentations on different funding sources, including green bonds and blended finance to mobilise finance for adaptation.

According to Peter Wamicwe, a Sustainable Finance Specialist at the CGIAR, “investors need to come in in numbers and have different areas of focus. Some can focus on financial returns while others on environmental and social impact.”

Crowding in different types of investors can reduce risk and achieve impact, Wamicwe said.

AAAP – a joint initiative of the African Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation – aims to mobilise $25 billion to drive adaptation across the African continent to strengthen food security for at least 10 million people, support one million youth with entrepreneurship skills and job creation, and integrate climate resilience into about $7 billion worth of infrastructure investments, among other results.

Speaking during the session, Senior Director for Africa at the Global Center on Adaptation, Prof. Anthony Nyong said that AAAP is a strong response to another crisis: climate change.

“What is crucial is that this program is an Africa-owned and Africa-led response to the continent's vulnerabilities and opportunities,” Nyong said.

In a panel discussion on the role of youth in climate adaptation, Aramide Abe, Regional Manager, Youth Jobs and Entrepreneurship, Global Center on Adaptation said youth have demonstrated ingenuity to drive adaptation solutions.

She added that youth-led start-ups on the continent are creating solutions and mobilising financing, and that “AAAP is supporting youth-led businesses on the continent to avoid the ‘valley of death’ that the majority of businesses on the continent go through due to lack of skills and funding.”

Alphaxard Gitau, a youthful dairy farmer in Kenya and market value chain specialist, said that while financing is available it needs to be structured in a way that meets the needs of youth

The panelists recommended putting adaptation finance in the hands of those who bear the brunt of climate change. They urged the use of a blend of public and private finance to target and tailor interventions and that the potential of youth should be harnessed in practical ways to effect change, and to scale and sustain adaptation actions across all spheres.

Click here to view a recording of the session