African Development Bank rolls out climate risk management and adaptation strategy

AllAfrica.com, via the African Development Bank (Tunis): The strategy is informed by the underlying notion that the African continent is most vulnerable to climate change and climate variability, a situation compounded by low adaptive capacity.

…Through the African Union and several sectoral Ministerial Conferences, African leaders increasingly recognize the development challenges posed by climate change and consider it a priority to address the adverse impacts of climate change on the continent. For instance, the Eighth Ordinary Session of the African Union in January 2007 urged AfDB regional member states and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in collaboration with the private sector, civil society and development partners, to integrate climate change into development strategies and programmes at national and regional levels.

…Committed to support its member countries in mitigating the effects of climate change, the Strategy has outlined key areas of intervention germane to managing the risks of climate change and to enhancing [Regional Member Countries’] capacity to meet their national development targets as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The strategy will support three main areas of intervention:

"Climate Proofing" Investments--actions taken to ensure that development efforts are protected from negative impacts of climate change, climate variability, and extreme weather events and that climate-friendly development strategies are pursued to delay and reduce damages caused by climate change.

Policy, Legal and Regulatory Reforms: The Bank Group will support the development of policies related risks as well as strengthen legal and regulatory reforms to create an enabling environment for the implementation of climate risk management and adaptation.

Knowledge Generation and Capacity Building: The absence of climate relevant information and the limited capacity within the continent to mainstream climate change is a key constraint to managing climate risks. The Bank intends to use its own investment windows as well as available global financial resources, to address the specific CRMA related activities in its operations, as appropriate. The Bank will develop methods, tools and training for use at sub-regional, country, sector, programme and project levels….

UN Human Development Index (HDI) for 2004, derived from 2006 UN HDI report. An HDI below 0.5 is considered to represent low development and an HDI 0.8 or more is considered to represent high development. In this image, greener is more developed, redder is less developed.