Green Climate Fund aims to intensify cooperation with Central Asia
The United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF), a financial mechanism established under the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change, intends to expand the portfolio of partner climate change projects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia with the launch of the GCF regional Structured Dialogue in Dushanbe.
The four-day forum, which opened today in the Tajik capital, is attended by delegations from 13 countries - Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Montenegro, which are ready for serious actions to prevent the negative impact of the shifts in the climatic balance of the planet.
This is the first large-scale meeting between the Fund and the two regions, which attracted the attention of regional stakeholders, financial ministries, environmental agencies, international organizations, civil society and private sector.
As with many other parts of the world, Eastern Europe and Central Asia face considerable challenges form the onset of climate change, manifested through extreme weather patterns, and accompanied by the deterioration in forestry and land use, water management and energy efficiency. This, in turn, affects food security and increases economic vulnerability.
Policymakers throughout the region are aware that climate finance can play a significant role in encouraging the search and implementation of new development ideas that do not place a heavy burden on the environment. And in this context, multilateral funds, such as GCF, can become an important source of financing for countries that are ready for the necessary economic and social transformations in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development and fulfill the obligations under the Paris Agreement.
Responding to numerous project ideas and proposals over the past couple of years, GCF has so far committed USD 391.5 million of climate finance in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. But much remains to be done with the initiative approach of national partners.
Over the next four days, the GCF dialogue will provide participants with a platform for strategic reflection on ideas that can lead to concrete climate action. A special emphasis will also be placed on national country programs, in which it is advisable to indicate promising areas of joint efforts from GCF and national partners.
GCF experts will unpack the investment criteria set forth by the GCF in assessing funding proposals to understand what makes a good funding proposal. Case studies of approved projects will be used as examples to illustrate the discussions.
In addition, with the participation of representatives of the private sector, as well as regional and national organizations interested in obtaining accreditation from the Fund, it is expected that the forum will serve as a platform for establishing partnerships in the region to meet the needs for adaptation to climate change.
In 2012, the National Strategy for Climate Change was approved in Turkmenistan. Aware of the complexity of this problem, the Strategy is also designed to ensure the comprehensive nature of public policy on this issue. According to the document, action plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change determine financing schemes for each individual action. At the same time, some of the measures are implemented at the expense of the internal potential in the country, the other part will require the involvement of international financial resources, including from international sources such as GCF.
