Climate Change: Moroccan expert, member of AfDB Adaptation Benefits Mechanism board
The African Development Bank has appointed a group of 8 renowned experts, including Moroccan Fatima-Zahra Taibi, to the board of a continental initiative to mobilize financing for resilience to the negative impacts of climate change, the Adaptation Benefits Mechanism (ABM), the AfDB said in a press release.
Fatima Zahra Taibi is a senior adviser to the partnership between the UN Environment’s Climate Change Strategy and Energy Program and the Technical University of Denmark, known as the UNEP DTU Partnership.
UNEP DTU Partnership assists developing countries in a transition towards more low carbon development paths, and supports integration of climate-resilience in national development.
The Adaptation Benefits Mechanism (ABM), established early October, is being assisted by an interim secretariat, which is placed in the Bank’s Climate Change and Green Growth department, headed by Dr. Anthony Nyong.
“We have on board some of the brightest minds in the climate change world, with tons of experience in different areas and with different stakeholder groups for ABM. They have the noble and pioneering task of convincing the world that adaptation action, just like mitigation action, has value and should be rewarded,” Dr. Anthony Nyong said.
The ABM aims to mobilize public and private sector finance for enhanced climate change resilience and adaptation by creating a new asset – certified adaptation benefits.
The mechanism will assist developing countries with meeting climate change needs and priorities for adaptation set out in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, in particular those requiring international cooperation.
During the pilot phase, the African Development Bank and partners will seek funding from various sources to realize multiple small-scale resilience projects to test the mechanism on the ground. The demonstration projects will be used to develop methodologies for delivery of adaptation benefits, verify the outcomes and prove the effectiveness of ABM for mobilizing new adaptation finance for replication.
The concept of the ABM was developed by the African Development Bank with the support of the Climate Investment Funds, in collaboration with the governments of Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire and various stakeholders. The ABM is potentially applicable in all countries.
