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By Alpha O. Kaloga and Sven Harmeling,
18 March 2010
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Briefing Paper [PDF, 320 K]
Summary
After the disappointing outcome of Copenhagen it is important to put the international climate train back on a track which can deliver real action in the near-term and in the long-run. The 9th meeting of the Adaptation Fund Board which steers the Adaptation Fund established under the Kyoto Protocol provides one of the first opportunities in 2010. While Copenhagen has not taken the veil of uncertainty over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the Adaptation Fund Board Members, most of which will continue their work in 2010, return from Copenhagen with the backing of a decision adopted by all Parties to the Kyoto Protocol: It appreciated the significant progress made in the operationalisation of the Adaptation Fund and also encouraged Annex I Parties and international organisations to provide additional funding to the AF.
The 9th meeting will begin with the administration of the new Chair and his co-Chair as well as with the introduction of the new members of the Board. In addition to this ceremonial aspect, important issues are on the agenda. The Accreditation Panel will report and provide recommendations on the accreditation of nominated National Implementing Entities (NIEs) as a key element of the direct access approach as well as of nominated Multilateral Implementing Entities (MIEs). Senegal will likely be the first country with an accredited NIE. The Panel will also provide suggestions on how to build an efficient accreditation framework. The Board will furthermore have to elaborate on the initial funding priorities, including the setting of a per-country cap and options how to split up the scarce resources among the eligible countries. An external contribution to this matter is a presentation of a representative of the IPCC on vulnerability indexes.
Generally, the AFB now has to enter the stage of concrete project adoption and implementation. Although the NIE accreditation process is still in its early stage, and the country caps remain a challenge, the AFB should issue the call for proposals right after this meeting. The Board already agreed on the project review criteria, which form the key criteria whether a project is to be adopted or not. Even an agreement on a country cap or country allocation would not change this logic, so countries can already prepare project proposals. This is also important to further increase the relevance of the AF as an instrument for channelling so-called "fast start finance".
This briefing gives an overview of
the key issues in the upcoming AFB meeting for interested stakeholders,
which will take place from 23rd to 25th March 2010 in Bonn.