ISS Roundtable, Addis Ababa: Climate Change Crisis: But is Africa Climate Finance-Ready?

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

The inaugural board meeting of the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund (GCF) was held in August 2012 with the second meeting following shortly after in October. The GCF decision to choose South Korea as its host country demonstrates that it is proceeding with efforts to channel the $100 billion of funds promised to developing countries to support climate action. But is Africa ready to receive these funds?  

The need for climate finance in Africa is well established. Africa is already being threatened by water scarcity, leading to food insecurity in many countries and increased flooding and water-borne diseases in others. These are predicted to occur with increased frequency and severity. In fact, some estimates show that Africa could be spending almost 3% of its annual GDP to deal with climate change impacts by 2030. The delivery of finance from the global arena is essential to helping people cope with and adapt to climate change, but without proper governance systems in place the money may be lost to corruption and maladministration.

To their credit, national governments have been implementing climate change policies and associated finance systems. But are these adequate to meet the challenge of increased funding? The litmus test is Fast Start Finance of $30 billion, which has been flowing since 2010. On the one hand, we need to understand whether the finance has been going to the ‘right’ or deserving projects and, on the other, whether adequate funds are being raised in a timely manner. In addition, the important issue of what role the private sector will play within the African climate finance architecture is gathering increased attention.     

Given the urgency of the climate change challenge, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has been working, with the generous support and partnership of the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), to provide evidence-based advice to key decision makers in order to promote a sound climate finance governance architecture in Africa that can stand up to the immense task at hand. After almost three years of sustained research and engagement, the ISS has convened this roundtable meeting in order to share and constructively discuss its research findings, as well as to engage other perspectives about how best to deliver climate finance in Africa. Moreover, this roundtable precedes the eighteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) in Doha, Qatar where the issue of climate finance will be an important focal point for multilateral and global governance initiatives.

Programme

Chair

Mr Tim Walker, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria office

08:30   Registration

09:00   Welcome                                                                                                      

09:10   Climate change impacts on Africa Dr Debay Tadesse, Institute for Security Studies-Addis Ababa office

10:10   What role for the private sector in Africa’s climate finance architecture? Prof Oliver Ruppel, Stellenbosch University

11:10   Are African countries ready for climate finance?  Trusha Reddy, Independent Researcher (TBC)

12:10   Getting to $30 billion: is Fast Start Finance coming fast enough?  Dr Yacob Mulugetta, UNECA-Africa Climate Policy Centre (TBC)

13:00 Closing remarks

13:30  Close

Please note this is a draft programme and a final programme will be shared in due course

This event is made possible through funding from the Hanns Seidel Foundation

 

Please Note: All ISS Events occur under the ISS Rules, which means no attribution without specific permission, unless indicated otherwise.
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