The access to climate adaptation finance is hindered by complex technical and financial requirements of the funders and a growing disconnect between the types of finance available and the support often required for adaptation. These were two of the outcomes of a dialogue session on how to build capacity for better access to climate adaptation, at the fifth international climate change adaptation conference held in Cape Town, South Africa. The Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation was one of the facilitators of the session.
The future costs of climate change adaptation are huge. To access climate finance, a more business or finance oriented approach and capacity to formulate bankable projects is required. At the Adaptation Futures 2018 conference in Cape Town, from 18-21 June, a dialogue session on this subject was facilitated by Ingrid Gevers (Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation), Leigh Cobban (ACDI) and Hans Bolscher (Trinomics). Seventy representatives from funding agencies, NGOs, community based organisations (CBOs), academia, research institutes and private sector participated. The aim was to better understand each other’s interests and the problems attendants face in relation to climate adaptation finance.
Key lessons
Together, the group identified the challenges related to the access to climate adaptation finance and mapped out the capacity needs to address these challenges. Also, several delegates committed themselves to help address the capacity development needs.
The group noted three key lessons. One, all participants recognized a large distance between the needs on the ground, the different levels in between, and the major donors, their procedures and requirements. Two, at many levels people are lacking the skills to write proposals that meet the complex technical and financial requirements of the funders. Both funders and recipients need to find a sustainable solution here. Three, there is a growing disconnect between the type of finance available and the support often required for adaptation. It is necessary to realize that not all adaptation projects can be a business case. The outcomes will be included in the climate adaptation courses of the Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation.