Understanding climate financing is important part of addressing climate risks, says Nepal researcher
- Guest post by Raju Pandit Chhetri, Director, Prakriti Resources Centre, Nepal
Adapting to climate change has become urgent not only in rural communities but also in urban areas. With the rapidly growing population and expanding urban areas, climate vulnerability is also on the rise in these places.
With the support from AuthorAID, I had an opportunity to participate and present at the 10th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change held from 25 - 28 April 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The theme of the conference was ‘Enhancing Urban Community Resilience’ and it was one of the best forums to share and learn from national and international policymakers, NGOs, academicians and others.
Presentations discussed how urban poor and marginalized population needed immediate support to adapt to the changing climatic conditions and build their resilience capacity. However, there are challenges in terms of adequate financial resources and capacity for poor countries. The trivial resources available to these countries through international funds are extremely difficult to access and to meet the funding criteria.
My paper looked at accessing international climate finance, encompassing experiences from Nepal. I discussed internationally established sources of climate finance like the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund and Climate Investment Fund and highlighted how countries could access these available resources, funding modalities and criteria. Many participants were eager to talk about overcoming the challenges in accessing funds from international sources to help urban resilience in their countries. They underlined that the process must be easy, direct and simple for low-capacitated countries as they are already struggling with the impacts of climate change. The need for additional financial resources in the poor countries is very high given the context of climate vulnerability and there is an urgent need to take action.
It was also interesting to learn from conference participants about various climate-induced problems that countries and communities face around the world. These problems vary, based on the context, geography and socio-economic conditions; understanding this variation plays a vital role in comprehending and addressing urban resilience issues. The work and commitment shown by various communities as presented in the conference was commendable and demonstrated how important it is to address the growing climate risk in urban areas.
After returning from the conference, I also had an opportunity to share some of what I had learned with the urban community in Nagarjun municipality of Kathmandu. Prakriti Resources Centre (PRC) and the municipality jointly organized an orientation programme to promote Environment Friendly Local Governance (EFLG) policy that encourages urban communities to be green, clean and environmentally friendly. The orientation programme primarily targeted the women of this municipality, which is an emerging urban area.
The programme resulted in positive outcomes as it helped inspire behavioural change and adoption of healthy and environmentally-friendly practices. The participants requested continuous support and the municipality is eager to extend collaboration in the future. Prakriti Resources Centre will be working with Nagarjun Municipality on issues related to urban climate resilience and other environmental topics. Attending this international conference has helped me focus myself in making a difference in the community. I am very grateful and appreciate the support extended to me by AuthorAID.