Briefing Paper

Adaptation Fund: Critical progress at the 7th Meeting

By Sven Harmeling and Alpha Kaloga, September 2009

The Adaptation Fund, created under the Kyoto Protocol, has unique features that could herald a new era of international cooperation on adaptation. These features, in particular the principle of direct access, create specific challenges which, once overcome, can make the Fund a model for the future. The Adaptation Fund Board actually began its work some months after the climate summit of Bali in 2007. In its first year, until the Poznan Climate Summit, the Board managed to fulfil all the required tasks and delivered all the documents that needed adoption. Much of the workload this year has been focused on developing appropriate regulations for the full operationalisation of the Fund, in particular the challenging tasks of conceptualising and implementing the principle of direct access. In its seventh meeting, which took place from 14 to 16 September in Bonn, Germany, the Adaptation Fund Board reached consensus on key aspects on its way to full operationalisation and delivered substantial progress. It also strengthened transparency and stakeholder involvement in the process. This briefing describes the key outcomes of the meeting, based on a previous analysis.

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