AfDB offers finance boost for climate, disaster risk

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The President of African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has called for growing partnership and stakeholders to help finance climate and disaster risk in Africa.

He spoke at the 53rd meeting on the bank in Busan, where the bank’s governing board held high-level talks focusing on role of the African Risk Capacity and the Africa Disaster Risk Financing Programme.

“The future of Africa depends on the actions we take  today. And we have to have a sense of urgency. If we pump in  the alliance and partnerships needed, countries will be able  to insure themselves of risks,” said Adesina.

In his opening remarks, Adesina stated that “Africa  contributes no more than 2-3% of greenhouse gas emissions,  but suffers disproportionately from the negative impacts of  climate change. All across Africa, you see today the high  frequency of droughts. Africa has been shortchanged by the  climate financing architecture. Therefore, we need  instruments that will help mitigate climate risks.”

Reiterating the challenges of climate change in Africa,  especially the continent’s vulnerability to droughts,  floods, tropical cyclones and outbreak and epidemics, ARC  Chairperson Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stated that ARC is about  African countries taking charge of their own issues and  finding ways to finance their response efforts and broader  resilience and development. “We cannot remain a continent  that is reliant on the generosity of the broader development  community.”

She highlighted the critical role the ADRiFi will play in  promoting disaster risk financing on the continent and how  countries can access both capacity building and premium  financing as part of their long-term resilience building  efforts.

The Bank and ARC formalized their partnership In March 2017  to strengthen their technical collaboration towards  enhancing the risk management infrastructure and policy  across Africa while supporting countries in building  resilience against climate shocks.

Following requests from regional member countries for  premium financing support, the Bank proposed the ADRiFi  program, which will run from 2018-2022, as a comprehensive,  sustainable solution for risk transfer within the broader  context of disaster risk management.

ADRiFi aligns with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy by  enhancing resilience and response to climate shocks in  regional member countries by improving the management of  natural disaster risk and adaptation to climate change.

The Bank’s Board of Governors shared a common resolve and  readiness to galvanize efforts and resources to help  regional member countries improve their capacity to plan,  prepare, and respond to extreme weather events and natural  disasters so as to safeguard food security for Africa’s  vulnerable populations.

The livelihoods of more than 70% of Africans depend on  farming. A critical component of the High 5 Agenda of the  African Development Bank is “Feed Africa” and hinges on  unlocking the potential of agriculture.

Most agricultural activity in Africa is rain-fed, making it  susceptible to the vagaries of climate change and natural  disasters. ARC deploys innovative mechanisms and customized  financial tools to help member countries reduce the risk of  loss and damage caused by extreme weather events and natural  disasters in a timely, cost-effective, objective and  transparent manner.

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