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By Alpha O. Kaloga and S. Harmeling
Summary
The 10th meeting of the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB), the operating body of the Adaptation Fund established under the Kyoto Protocol, took place from the 15th to the 16th of June in Bonn, Germany.
Just a few weeks after the accreditation of the first National Implementing Entity, the "Centre de Suivi Ecologique" of Senegal, as well as some Multilateral Implementing Entities, the Board has approved the first four project concepts (with a total value of USD 21.8 million) and thus started the long-awaited implementation phase. Senegal, Nicaragua, Pakistan and the Solomon Islands are now allowed to submit a full proposal. This marks the first concrete realisation of the direct access approach in climate financing and the success of this phase is dependent on many factors and actors, in particular those within developing countries. It will determine whether the AFB fulfils the expectations and whether it deserves to be called a model for the future.
Also, during the last meeting, the committees of the Board met for the first time in a closed session day prior to the 10th Meeting While the Project Program Review Committees (PPRC) reviewed the submitted project proposals in accordance with the Provisional Operational Policies and Guidelines for Parties to access resources of the Adaptation Fund (the Operational Policies and Guidelines) in order to provide recommendations and advice to the Board thereon the Ethics and Finance Committees (EFC) reported to the Board on issues of conflict of interest and the code of conduct for the AFB.
In addition, the Accreditation Panel (AP) - responsible for the accreditation procedures of National Implementing Entities (NIEs) as well as the Multilateral Implementing Entities (MIEs) - presented its second report and recommended the accreditation of four further MIEs. It also highlighted the need to concretise a work programme to promote the accreditation process of NIEs and thereby to respond to the needs expressed by many developing countries.
Furthermore, the IPCC presented on
its work on vulnerability, giving expert advice to the Board on how it
can prioritise and distinguish between different projects from countries
and, therefore, channel its scarce resources to those who need it most.
This report gives an overview of the key issues on the agenda of the 10th
AFB meeting for interested stakeholder.