AFRICA: faced with the climate emergency, concrete commitments from BOAD

[PARTNER ARTICLE] From Taoudenit to Agadez via Dakar, Abidjan or Lomé, the Sahel and the whole of West Africa are facing climate change which requires urgent responses for the resilience and adaptation of populations . The answer is above all infrastructural and financial. The West African Development Bank (BOAD) has made this its credo in a global context marked by the lack of climate financing.

It is in this context that the bank based in Lomé, Togo, is implementing its Djoliba Strategic Plan which defines its priorities within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) for the period 2021-2025. In this context, it has decided to devote 25% of its financial commitments, or 825 billion CFA francs (1.2 billion euros) to strengthening the resilience of populations to climate change.

Financing adaptation to climate change

In the third axis of the Djoliba Strategic Plan, it is also planned “the mobilization from climate funds, in the amount of 175 billion CFA francs (more than 266 million euros), for the financing of mitigation and adaptation to climate change, all linked to the issue of biodiversity. These forecasts correspond to a portfolio of projects to be examined for a total amount of 1,000 billion CFA francs (a little over 1.5 billion euros), over the period of implementation of the strategic plan,” explains Dr. Komlanvi Moglo, specialist in climate finance at BOAD.

On the ground, this strategy is deployed through the financing of structuring projects in several key sectors, notably agriculture, energy, eco-construction, waste and even electric mobility. Thus, in March 2023, the bank granted financing of 35 million euros to the State of Niger for the implementation of the Hydroagricultural Development Project with intelligent agricultural practices resilient to climate change (PAHA-AIC) .

Financing agriculture in the face of climate

PAHA-AIC will improve agricultural yields, thereby reducing food insecurity exacerbated by drought, floods and erosion. In Niger, agriculture represents nearly 40% of gross domestic product (GDP) according to the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

To strengthen the resilience of farmers in the regions of Agadez, Tahoua, Maradi, Zinder and Diffa, PAHA-AIC will enable the development of 1,750 hectares of agricultural land through the installation of drip irrigation systems. gout and Californian. The project also involves the construction of boreholes equipped with solar pumps and the construction of storage tanks. The technical and organizational capacities of farmer groups will also be strengthened for the management of these facilities and the implementation of other actions in favor of climate change resilience.

A neighboring country of Niger, Mali also benefits from support from BOAD for the adaptation of its agricultural sector to climate change. In January 2023, the bank granted financing of 12 million euros for the rehabilitation and extension of agricultural areas damaged during the rising waters of the Niger River which bathes the cities of Bamako, Koulikoro, Ségou, Mopti, Timbuktu , Gao and Ansongo.

In December 2020, for example, the dike of the Daye rice-growing plain broke after heavy rains, causing the flooding of 2,829 hectares of crops in 126 villages, with more than 50 hectares of ripe rice. Vegetable crops were also flooded on plots outside of plots and 5,502 households lost all of their production. BOAD financing will enable the rehabilitation of the agricultural areas of Korioumé (430 hectares), Daye (417 hectares) and Hamadja (620 hectares), all located in the circle of Timbuktu.

A Marketplace to catalyze climate finance

Over the coming months, BOAD intends to increase its climate financing tenfold, particularly through the Marketplace, a new initiative currently being implemented in Africa. It is presented in three phases, the first of which will take place during the “West African Carbon Market Hub” which takes place from September 26 to 28, 2023 in Abidjan in Ivory Coast. A call for projects will then be launched with the aim of identifying a group of projects likely to be supported by BOAD or other financial institutions.

The second phase will consist of submitting the identified projects to the opinions of financial analysts and engineers. The latter will improve the selected projects and reinforce them with readability criteria. This phase will be implemented during the 5th ^Climate  Chance Summit scheduled for October 23 to 25, 2023 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The final phase will be held during the 28th ^United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) from November 30 to December 12, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The aim will be to present the six best project leaders from the Marketplace to an audience of climate finance stakeholders, gathered for an event organized on the sidelines of the COP28 work. The goal is to find adequate financing adapted to the projects.

“  The Marketplace corrects failures observed among certain project leaders in Africa. Many are confronted with the level of funding sources. They do not always know the mechanisms linked to the financing of the project study, the debt or the monitoring of the project. Others sometimes manage to raise resources, without these being necessarily adapted, so this affects the completion of projects,  ” explains Moubarak Moukaila, the Manager of the Regional Collaboration Center (CRC) of Lomé in Togo, the initiating body of the Marketplace.

Created in January 2013, the Lomé CRC is the result of the partnership between the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the BOAD. The Lomé CRC is the first of six that exist today throughout the world. It covers twenty-six countries in French-speaking West and Central Africa. A true secular arm of BOAD in climate finance, the Lomé CRC's mission is to provide governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector with support in the preparation and execution of Mechanism projects. Clean Development Initiative (CDM). A mission which fell within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol and subsequently, in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, through the nationally determined contributions (NDC),

A new accreditation by the FVC

The financing allocated by BOAD for the benefit of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects is intended for the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of member countries, the contribution to the objectives of the Agreement Paris but also to achieve the objectives of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Thus at the end of its 36th ^session  organized from July 10 to 13, 2023 in South Korea , the board of directors of the GCF reaccredited the bank, while increasing its mobilization capacity. The financial institution can now mobilize up to 250 million dollars, or approximately 146 billion CFA francs per project for the benefit of UEMOA member states.

“  The latter will be able to benefit from donations and loans at rates between 0 and 1.75% as well as guarantees and refinancing lines for the fight against the harmful effects of climate change,” explains Dr. Komlanvi Moglo, finance specialist  . climate at BOAD. He added that this re-accreditation occurs in the GCF result areas such as infrastructure, production and access to energy, livelihoods of people and communities, forests and use of land, ecosystems and ecosystem services, health, food and water security.

Also, “BOAD strengthens the participation of the private sector through the promotion of greening of the financial sector and financial innovation to increase private investments in favor of the climate”, explains Dr. Komlanvi Moglo. This is the second accreditation delivered to BOAD by the GCF, after the first, in October 2016. The new resources allocated by the GCF will strengthen the Bank's deployment in the fight against climate change, in accordance with its Strategic Plan. current and future.