In her closing remarks to a joint UN/Egypt capacity development workshop, the Minister highlighted the potential for peer learning and South-South cooperation to strengthen climate adaptation in Africa. “With COP 27 only weeks away, this workshop comes a crucial point in time,” said the Minister. The workshop on “Mainstreaming climate adaptation into development cooperation policies and practices” was conducted jointly by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Government of Egypt on 7-8 September  during the Egypt International Cooperation Forum.

Africa accounts for less than 0.55% of carbon emissions but is short of $800 billion this decade to protect itself from climate-related disasters. Development cooperation, in all its forms, can and should do more to support African countries in scaling up climate adaptation. Building on the key findings of the UN DCF Survey Study, the workshop focused on peer learning, and facilitated the sharing of good practices and opportunities to strengthen development cooperation policies and practices for climate adaptation. 

 Egypt – as the host of COP 27 in November 2022 – is putting a spotlight on the support required by the continent for adapting to the growing climate crisis.  At the workshop, representatives from national governments in Africa and from the UN exchanged experience on how to support climate adaptation through more effective development cooperation.  They highlighted the real challenges and untapped opportunities on policy coordination, data, and stakeholder engagement to advance climate adaptation priorities. However, as mentioned by one African senior government official, “Everything stands and falls with finance. Strategies are good but implementation is what matters. Developed countries need to follow through on their COP 26 commitment to double adaptation finance.”  

 One of the key initiatives discussed at the workshop was the new Sharm-El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing, which was introduced to participants by Ms. Randa Hamza, Assistant Minister of International Cooperation for Strategic Planning. The guidebook supports developing countries in mobilizing finance for climate adaption by clearly identifying and assigning roles and responsibilities of all relevant stakeholders.

 In the coming months, the Financing for Sustainable Development Office at UN DESA and the Government of Egypt will continue to help African countries exchange best practices and learn from within their network of policymakers. The result of these efforts will feed into COP27 and will also be discussed at ministerial level at the 2023 Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) High-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council on 14-15 March 2023 in New York.  “With its collective commitment, innovation and youthful population, the continent’s future will be bright if it can make a step change with development cooperation partners in enhancing climate adaptation and resilience,” concluded Dr. Hazem Fahmy, Assistant Minister for International Cooperation.