Malawi and other developing countries winning finance negotiations at COP23

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has doubled the amount of approved climate finance during the past year, to assist developing countries implement climate change actions. The climate actions include adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, capacity building and reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This was announced at the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in Bonn, Germany. GCF Board Co-Chair, Ayman Shasly from Saudi Arabia, said GCF is picking up its speed to program resources for the implementation of ambitious, standard shifting action. “At our last board meeting that was held in Cairo, Egypt in October 2017, we allocated USD 500 million [about K467 billion ] to a request for proposals under the pilot program on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries,” said Shasly. He explained that the GCF has approved a total of USD 2.65 billion for 54 climate change projects and programs to be implemented in 73 developing countries that include Malawi. “The GCF will continue to respond to the guidance from the UNFCCC Conference of Parties in channeling climate finance to developing countries to promote a standard shift towards low emissions and climate resilience development pathways. In Malawi, GCF is funding the Modernized Climate Information and Early Warning Systems (M-CLIMES) project with MK8 billion and is expected to phase out in 2023. The EWs project is being implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Department of Disaster Risk Management (DoDMA), Department of Climate Change and Metrological Services (DCCMs), National Smallholder Farmers of Malawi (NASFAM) and other partners. M-CLIMES will support the government of Malawi to take steps to save lives and enhance livelihoods at risk from climate-related disasters.