National Climate Funds vital for Pacific [1]
Thursday, April 6, 2017 - 19:50. Updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - 17:38.
Accessing and using global climate financing from sources such as the Green Climate Fund and other multilateral and bilateral funds, provides an opportunity for Pacific governments to scale up National Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation activities, including Tonga.
The National Climate Funds (NCFs) is an opportunity for countries to manage climate finance and now have a chance to set up a system that can mobilize climate finance at the national level, through this.
Countries like Tuvalu, Tonga and Papua New Guinea are leading the way for designing and establishing these important tools for managing climate finance.
In a meeting on March 30-31 in Nadi, Government representatives from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Tuvalu and development partners from the Pacific region met for a south-south learning program to share lessons learnt and best practices on how certain countries have progressed in the establishment of their NCFs.
UNDP Climate Change Policy Advisor, Cassie Flynn said NCFs is a tool for countries to manage climate finance; it helps countries to collect climate finance from a variety of sources, coordinate them, blend and account for them.
"A country can build on existing systems and frameworks to design an NCF that directs resources towards activities that deliver results on the ground effectively. Some countries in the Pacific have already established NCFs."Countries like Tuvalu, Tonga and PNG are leading the way for designing and establishing these important tools for managing climate finance.
Tonga’s Principal Climate Finance Analyst and Head of the Climate Finance Division Sione Fulivai said climate finance is a maze as there are so many funding sources available.
"The platform was effecient in sharing experiences, insights and views on NCFs from existing national funds throughout the Pacific region. Taking lessons learnt from the platform, we will look at opportunities for the private sector to be part of the NCF process."
Acccessing funds
For countries to receive these funds, robust finance and governance structures need to be place to support the effective, efficient and accountable implementation of activities that are funded by these global climate-financing mechanisms.
The south south learning platform was organized by the Fiji Green Climate Fund Readiness Program through the UNDP Pacific office, in partnership with the Ministry of Economy supported by the German Government’s Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.