Climate Change Adaptation: More Than Doubling Finance - As Obligation, Duty

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“Africa annually needs about 51 billion US dollars for climate change finance, but only 11 billion US dollars gets to the continent for adaptation. This is grossly insufficient!” exclaimed Dr Augustine Bantar Njamnshi, the Executive Director of the Africa Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access, ACSEA. He was speaking in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde on October 29, 2024 at the opening of the second Youth Forum on Adaptation Finance in Africa, YOFAFA. Which ran until October 31, 2024. It was jointly organised by the Cameroonian government, ACSEA and the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance, PACJA.

Pathway To Resilience 
YOFAFA 2024 forum was themed, “Financing energy access for climate change adaptation and resilience in Africa.” "It assembled about 500 youths from 35 African countries to focus on adaptation finance. This year’s agenda was specifically aimed at addressing energy access as a pathway to resilience. African youth pushed for “The Yaounde African Youth Call for More than Doubling Climate Finance for Africa’s Future,” a call-to-action they intend to present at COP29. Through the forum, youth advocated for direct support for energy initiatives and stronger financing mechanisms to be made accessible to African-led projects. The goal is to have clear, actionable commitments that can be championed both at COP29 and within Africa’s policy frameworks,” explained Eugene Nforngwa, ACSEA Director of Programmes. 

An Obligation, A Duty
“A recent study on climate change in 11 African countries shows that their annual climate change adaptation budgets are five times more than budgets for health. This means these countries are paying a huge price for climate change adaptation to the detriment of health, which is unjust,” Dr Njamnshi revealed. He argued that since developing countries make huge sacrifices to tackle climate change effects for which they are not responsible, increased finance to handle climate change adaptation should not be seen as aid, but rather as an obligation and duty on the part of developed countries.

Worldwide Reality                        
“Climate finance is reality all over the world with unfortunate effects like the floods we are seeing in the Far North Region of Cameroon where over 500,000 people have been displaced. Adapting to climate change effects and finding the money for it is important, especially for Africa. What is certain is that there will be more floods, droughts, people will lose their homes... This is the more reason why we must adapt to these effects,” the European Union Ambassador and Head of Delegation to Cameroon, Jean-Marc Chataigner, warned. 

Access, Capacity Building
“While we seek more funding, there is need to access existing finance sources. For example, there is no accredited agency in the Central African sub-region to access and implement Green Finance programmes in the zone. People need to be trained to apply for climate finance. Sourcing for more finance is as important as building national capacity to manage climate finance programmes,” Ambassador Chataigner averred.

Plan, Anticipate
According to him, the European Union believes it is crucial to support adaptation and mitigation initiatives in the fight against climate change. “It is important to support efforts to fight climate change and anticipate climate change effects. We already know that sea levels will rise and there will be more floods in the Far North Region. So, we have to prepare and adapt to the expected situation,” Chataigner counselled. 

Much Has Changed 
“We expect to see African youth more engaged in climate change adaptation finance activities. Since the first YOFAFA forum in 2023, many things have changed. The fact that there is more advocacy on climate change adaptation and adaptation finance, and the international community is now paying attention, suggests that things will continue to change and improve for the better,” Dr Augustine Njamnshi said. 

Too Little For Africa 
“Climate finance worldwide for 2019-2020 was 632 billion US dollars, but only 46 billion US dollars was allocated for climate change adaptation; and 15 billion US dollars for dual purposes. This is grossly insufficient for the adaptation needs of the whole world, especially Africa,” Njamnshi warned. 

More Than Doubling Finance
The 2023 YOFAFA forum in Cameroon closed with the release of The Yaounde African Youth Call for more than Doubling of Adaptation Finance. Because the current rate of adaptation finance is not enough. “If we only double it as it was decided at COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland, it will still be very insufficient. So African youth came up with the campaign to insist on more than doubling because simply doubling what is already insignificant will not take us anywhere. The call is now echoed all round the world and is drawing attention, especially it as comes from youth,” Dr Njamnshi emphasised. 

Complex Access Procedures
Accessing climate finance is complex, and adapting to climate change is even more complicated. “Every financial institution will ask you to explain the climate impact you are dealing with, the action you plan to take and how you can demonstrate the planned action is going to reduce the impact of climate change,” explained Ambassador Seyni Nafo, Co-Chair of the Green Climate Fund and Coordinator of the African Adaptation Initiative.

Stringent Criteria 
“Secondly, international organisations that process climate finance have stringent criteria such as demonstrated ability to manage international ...