Mashat urges mobilizing $25 bn for accelerating Adaptation efforts in Africa

09 / 11 / 2022

By Marwa Nassar - -

Egypt’s International Cooperation Minister Dr. Rania Mashat called for an international response to mobilize $25 billion for accelerating climate adaptation efforts in Africa.

She made the remarks in the closing speech of the session titled “accelerating adaptation for the continent of Africa”, organized by the Global Adaptation Center in cooperation with the African Development Bank, the African Union and the Dutch and French governments, as part of the 27^th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh from 6 to 18 November.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Mr. McSall participated in the event alongside Head of State of Senegal, Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana and Mr. Ali Bongo Odimba, Head of State of Gabon, and Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Norway, Mr. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations and Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, Head of State of Somalia and Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and Ms. Ngozi Okonjo, Director-General of the World Trade Organization and Ms. Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and several representatives of African continent States, moderated by Mr. Patrick Verkooijen, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Centre for Adaptation.

In her statement, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, emphasized that Africa is one of the region’s most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which necessitates strengthening the collective efforts that must be undertaken to ensure that food and water security are strengthened, that Africa’s continent is preserved and that the consequences of climate change are met, in the face of successive crises in the world beginning with the coronavirus.

The Minister of International Cooperation explained that the time has come to implement the pledges, and from the world’s meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh at the COP27 climate conference, we must move forward towards effective steps towards operationalizing the pledges and moving them to the stage of implementation, pointing to the need to ensure that decisions taken include all groups most in need to secure livelihoods and ensure that they are not affected by climate change.

She also noted the need for policies by Governments, States and even institutions to take into account the importance of digital transformation to promote sustainable practices in agriculture, industry and others, thereby enhancing productivity in these sectors and reducing emissions. In addition, she stressed the importance of attention to environmental standards and climate action in policies to promote the transition to a green economy.

“This is what we do in Egypt. We have designed the national platform for green projects. “NWFE”, the focus of the Nexus of water, food and energy projects, with a view to implementing the National Climate Change Strategy 2050 and NDCs, and stimulate Egypt’s green transformation efforts by mobilizing concessional development funding, technical support and private sector investment priority projects in the water, food and energy sectors “, during which a comprehensive, green and digital approach was adopted, focusing on priority projects in the water, food and energy sectors and leveraging international partnerships to enhance the transition from pledging to implementation.

Projects included in the National Platform for Green Projects Program “NWFE”, has achieved many goals, the most important of which is to move towards inclusive development across Egypt. Diversification of mitigation projects and adaptation to the implications of climate change by implementing desalination projects and supporting smallholder farmers’ capacities to adapt to the effects of climate change, Increasing agricultural crop productivity and farmers’ incomes through the use of modern technology and clean energy and leveraging innovative financing tools to mobilize $14.7 billion in investment.

She emphasized that the objectives of the launch of the National Platform for Green Projects “NWFE” program go beyond the national level to the continent of Africa and the world at large, where we set a regional and international model and methodology for national platforms aimed at mobilizing finance

The Egyptian Forum for International Cooperation and Development Finance, held last September in the presence and sponsorship of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, witnessed the meeting of African Ministers of Economy, Finance and Environment, in order to develop a unified vision for the continent of Africa and coordinate efforts and positions ahead of the climate conference.