Sanbi accredited as UN Adaptation Fund implementing entity

Christy Van Der Merwe in Engineering News (South Africa): The recently established Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has accredited the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) as a national implementing entity.

The Adaptation Fund was established to finance adaptation projects and programmes in developing country parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and is financed from the share of proceeds on the clean development mechanism (CDM) project activities and other sources of funding. It is supervised and managed by the AFB, which is composed of 16 members and 16 alternates and meets at least twice a year.

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) noted that the Adaptation Fund has the unique feature of direct access, which is unprecedented for an environmental financial mechanism, through which developing countries can apply for resources without the intermediation of multilateral development institutions such as the World Bank.

National implementing entities are the bodies that facilitate this direct access, and Sanbi is now responsible for this role in South Africa, in collaboration with South Africa’s Designated National Authority, and the DEA. The appointment was significant for South Africa in securing the funds needed to plan the country’s development trajectory in a way that was responsive to climate change, the DEA added….