The Global Climate Change Initiative: Accessing the Green Climate Fund ... Part 2 of 2
The
Global Climate Change Initiative: Accessing the Green Climate Fund
Part
2
By
E. Stanley Ukeni
This is a follow-up discuss on my previous article
titled, the global climate change initiative: the green climate fund. In that
article, I intimated the readers on how the Green Climate Fund has been
significantly resourced by an announcement of a sizable financial contribution
from the United States and Japanese governments during the 2014 edition of the
G-20 summit.
My intention in this discuss is to explore viable
avenues in which regions and communities across Africa that are being adversely
affected by climate change can effectively access the needed funds to help its
inhabitants mitigate against the devastating effects of the global climate
change problem.
Throughout the world the adverse impacts of climate
change can be observed, and even felt. Although the effects of this human
induced global warming are everywhere, the impact of this phenomenon is most
devastating in third world countries. This is because the resources needed by
the native inhabitants of these regions of our world to effective adapt to the
evolving changes in their local environment are sparse. There is an urgent need
to lend financial assistance to these vulnerable groups of people who through
no fault of their own are facing undue hardship.
I am of the opinion that the African Union should
take the lead in the effort to help African States alleviate the potentially
devastating effects of climate change across the continent. To this effect, there
is an urgent need to strengthen the Joint Secretariat Support Office of the
African union in regards to its climate change mandate. In addition to other
efforts, a dedicated Climate Change Secretariat is urgently needed. The chief
objective of this inter-governmental parasternal should include assisting the
governments of its member States in the establishment of institutional
frameworks that would help individual countries in articulating the needs of,
Climate Change, affected communities within their domain of governance. I’m
sure there are efforts directed at this issue already.
The national governments of the different African
countries must immediately establish a national green funding agency—sort of
like a Climate Change Trust Fund, perhaps under an existing environmental
protection ministry. The new agency would be the primary national institution
through which The Green Climate Fund could channel funds in support of national
efforts at dealing with the effects of the global climate change.
Once it is established, the new green funding agency
should assume immediate oversight roles, the management and implementation of
The Green Climate Funds recommendations and mandates. This will, in effect,
transfer local funding decisions and the management of funds allocated to
countries to the national institution. This green agency is to be mandated,
among other things, to streamline and coordinate the modalities for accessing
funds to assist climate change affected communities.
This green agency would equally be helpful in
establishing accreditation criteria for non-governmental organizations that
would liaise with rural communities so as to minimize fraud and resource
wastage. The green agency should also be responsible for monitoring the
activities of both sub-national institutions and non-State actors to ensure
that climate change finance gets to where they are most needed. It must also
engage in evolving processes to generate vulnerability and environmental impact
assessment studies on an ongoing bases.
The establishment of a national managed Climate
Change Funding Green Agency will allow for a national sense of ownership of
climate change mitigation projects. It allows for the alignment of this
multilateral initiative with national policies. The green fund will also help
in the streamlining of the process through which local actors can gain access
to funds. A green agency would most certainly be a useful mechanism for
effectively channeling funds to accredited NGOs, community-based cooperatives
and environmental damage mitigation pilot projects.
The Climate Change Funding Green Agency, once
established, should in turn create a sustainable small grants mechanism that
makes money available to accredited, but under resourced, non-state actors.
This will enable smaller, but efficient, non-governmental organizations and
community based organizations—with specific focus on the most vulnerable population
groups, to gain access to financial and logistical support.
Those residing on the African continent,
particularly the rural dwellers, are having great difficulty coping with the
devastating impacts of climate change due to poverty and scarce resources. And
their national government are ill equipped to assist these victims of global
warming because of budgetary constraints. The leadership of African countries
must act quickly—in concert with the Global Climate Fund, to financially assist
in implementing local climate change mitigation initiatives that would help
vulnerable communities to effectively adapt to the evolving effects of climate
change.
Authored by E. Stanley Ukeni, ©2015. All Rights
Reserved.
Photo courtesy of the Africa Union
Photo courtesy of the UN
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