Member states of the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) have resolved to mobilize domestic and external finances to implement a range of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects.
Officials acknowledged that global warming has destabilized natural environment, economies and the social fabric in East and Southern Africa region.
"There is need for countries in east and southern Africa to prioritize climate finance to meet sustainable development objectives in agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors," Ali Mohamed, Kenya's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources said.
Mohammed spoke on Tuesday during a sub-regional workshop to discuss opportunities in climate change financing for the COMESA region taking place in Nairobi.
Representatives from government ministries, donors, the UN and farmer's organizations are attending the forum to explore how countries can increase financing in climate change adaptation and mitigation alongside sustainable land management.
Majority of COMESA states lack adequate financing, human and institutional capital that limits their capacity to address climate change related vagaries including droughts, floods and habitat loss.
According to Mohammed, many countries in the region have been unable to mobilize finance hence inability to roll out long-term interventions to manage climate change.
"In spite of the above challenges, there are myriad opportunities in domestic sources of finance, existing international funds and opportunities to position our countries to access new and emerging funds such as the Green Climate Fund, REDD+ and other upstart finance initiatives," Mohammed said.
He stressed that greater access to climate funds will enable poor countries achieve internationally agreed emissions reduction targets.
COMESA states should mobilize domestic resources to supplement the green climate fund pledged by developed countries.
"Strengthening national investment frameworks for climate adaptation in agriculture, forestry and other land use practices provide plentiful opportunities to increase access to finance for vulnerability reduction in our region's most climate impact prone economic sectors," Mohammed reiterated.
He regretted that currently, all African countries except Tanzania, Madagascar and Eritrea are lagging behind in accessing global climate funds.
Countries in East and Southern Africa region have endorsed initiatives that promote sustainable agriculture and land use practices, biodiversity conservation, maintenance of environmental services and improvement of rural livelihood.
Sonnboy Shongwe, a climate change specialist at COMESA, said that east and southern African states have pledged to implement cost effective and verifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
"There is a climate change mitigation and adaptation program whose objective is to support member states to access adaptation funds and other climate change financing sources through national investment frameworks for adaptation in agriculture, forestry and land uses," Shongwe revealed.
He stressed that the COMESA region can achieve low carbon status if countries scale up investments in high impact climate change adaptation programs.
