Comesa for rapid climate change funding
Malawi has asked institutions that finance climate change initiatives to eliminate barriers that delay approval of funds that countries request to strengthen their resilience against natural disasters.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo made the call at the 18th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) member States 18th Foreign Affairs Ministers’ Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia on Tuesday.
She said: “At the moment, it is so cumbersome for a country to access the funding. It takes forever. If you draw a proposal this year, it will take not a minimum of two to three years.”
The Comesa has nailed climate change and political conflicts high on the agenda of the summit attended by its 21 member States.
Tembo further said the whole of Comesa feels that the funding delays are affecting the fight against climate change challenges.
She singled out Green Climate Fund and Global Environmental Fund as some institutions with strict funding rules.
“That is the challenge that faces the Comesa States and Africa. The gathering here is speaking with one voice that financing mechanisms have to be simplified. We are rushing against time,” the minister emphasised.
In their ministers’ meeting opening remarks, Comesa secretary general Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe and Zambia Vice-President Mutale Nalumango said climate change and political conflicts were threatening Africa’s economic success.
They cited Tropical Cyclone Freddy which hit Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar, killing hundreds and displacing millions this year, as a clear example of the climate change devastation
On conflict, they pinpointed the infighting in Sudan and the M23 rebels’ resurgence in the Democratic Republic of Congo as major threats to the continent’s economy.
The ministers’ meeting preceded the 22 Comesa Heads of State Summit scheduled for Thursday which President Lazarus Chakwera is scheduled to attend, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release issued on Monday.
The summit, whose next programme is a business forum scheduled for today, is being hosted under the theme: Economic Integration for a thriving Comesa anchored on green investment, value addition and tourism.
Comesa is an inter-governmental institution of 21 African countries which promotes regional economic integration through trade and investment.
