Green Climate Fund Board approves USD 9 million project in Benin to increase resilience of rural communities

The 22nd GCF Board meeting approves one project proposal and two Direct Access Entity applications that were developed and submitted with the support from the BMU/IKI funded GCF Readiness Programme jointly implemented by UN Environment, UNDP and WRI.

Approval of a project for Benin aiming to increase the resilience of rural communities

At the 22nd Board Meeting of the Green Climate Fund held from 26 to 28 February, 2019, they approved a grant of 9 million USD for the simplified approval process (SAP) project proposal (SAP005) entitled "Enhanced climate resilience of rural communities in central and north Benin through the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation in forest and agricultural landscapes". The project was submitted by UN Environment (Accredited Entity) with Benin's Ministry of Livelihood and Sustainable Development (MCVDD) as the Executing Entity.

Most of Benin's rapidly growing population lives in rural areas, where agriculture supports about 70 percent of population's livelihoods, and provides about 80 percent of export income to the economy. This strong dependency on agriculture is heavily impacted by environmental degradation and climate change. The project objective is to halt the negative cycle of climate change, agricultural yield depletion and natural resource degradation in central and northern Benin and build resilience of local communities. The project, due to be implemented by UN Environment, has a lifespan of 5 years, and an estimated 1.1 million beneficiaries.

Approval of accreditation applications of Benin's "Fonds National pour l'Environnement et le Climat (FNEC)" and Nepal's "Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC)"

In further news, two national entities directly supported by the UN Environment/UNDP/WRI GCF Readiness programme, to prepare and submit their accreditation application to GCF were accredited at B.22. As accredited entities, FNEC and AEPC are now in a position to propose project proposals to the Green Climate Fund and access financing to implement projects approved by the GCF Board.

For Benin, in addition to having their SAP proposal approved by the Board, the "Fonds National pour l'Environnement et le Climat (FNEC)" was accredited to the Fund, enabling FNEC to directly access funding from the GCF in the future. FNEC will be engaged in the execution of the "Enhanced climate resilience of rural communities in central and north Benin through the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation in forest and agricultural landscapes" project; both as an official member of the project steering committee and in supporting project activities related to the strengthening of technical and institutional capacity of the government and communities.

In addition, Nepal's Alternative Energy Promotion Centre was also accredited at the 22nd Meeting of the Board. "This is a landmark moment for Nepal whereby a federal government institution has become accredited for direct access with largest global fund on climate change" said Mr. Shreekrishna Nepal, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Finance and GCF focal point at the Ministry. "This will help access and mobilize resources steering the country towards low-emission and climate resilient pathways" added Mr. Nepal.

More direct access accreditations and proposal approvals expected in 2019

It is expected that there will be further breakthroughs for climate finance at upcoming meetings of the GCF board. An additional 14 institutions from Readiness Programme countries have already submitted their applications, with 3 of these now in the final stage of the accreditation process. In addition to the accreditation applications, at least five other projects proposals are also expected to be up for consideration by the GCF Board in 2019.

Further information: http://www.gcfreadinessprogramme.org/