Financing climate adaptation in fragile states: A case of Somalia

Somalia is highly vulnerable to climate hazards, including those made worse by climate change. Despite this, the country receives little climate finance. The Federal Government of Somalia, and development and humanitarian partners recognise that both slow onset climate stresses and rapid-onset climate shocks exacerbate Somalia’s fragile polity, economy and society. Bilateral and multilateral funding has been vital to financing climate-related activities in Somalia, but there are missed opportunities in acquiring funding and using the scarce finance effectively.

This policy brief identifies entry points of action and recommendations that development and humanitarian actors and the Federal Government can adopt to enable and accelerate access to resources. These recommendations, which aim to build government capacity and improve the quality and relevance of climate adaptation, include:

• Strengthening the role and capacity of Somalia’s National Designated Agency and relevant government ministries.
• Improving climate data acquisition and analysis, and establishing knowledge-sharing platforms.
• Enhancing coordination, collaboration, and coherence of project and programme proposals to address the adverse impacts of climate change.