ACRIS V EVENT SUMMARY

The Fifth Africa Climate Resilience Investment

Summit (ACRIS V) took place virtually on 16 and 17 June, 2021 under the theme “embedding and financing climate resilience towards Africa’s green recovery.” It was jointly organized by the African Union Commission (AUC), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and World Bank Group (WBG), with generous funding from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). Day 1 commenced with an Opening Ceremony and a series of Keynote Addresses. H.E. Ambassador Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, DREA, AUC, inaugurated ACRIS V with her strong opening statement, emphasizing the need to build back better for a more resilient Africa. She also announced the AUC Green Recovery Action Plan to guide resource mobilization towards climate change adaptation. These opening remarks were followed by those of Jean-Paul Adam, Director, Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management Division of UNECA in which he discussed the critical need for prioritizing climate resilience in investments in crucial sectors for the future development of Africa, as well as the urgency of integrating resilience and investment planning in national and regional long-term development strategies. The final set of opening remarks were given by Dr. Simeon Ehui, Central and Western Africa Regional Director for Sustainable Development of WBG. He spoke about the uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and how African countries must promote growth-enhancing reforms and steer their economies onto a green, resilient, and inclusive development path because the world will be dealing with the pandemic’s “side-effects” for many years to come. Karin Isaksson, Managing Director of NDF, gave the first keynote address. She highlighted the importance of building back better and greener as a critical part of Africa’s green recovery. Further remarks came from Professor Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), who spoke about how data is fundamental for effective climate action and investments across all African countries. His address was followed by remarks from H.E. Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) and Director General, African Risk Capacity (ARC)

Group. He spoke about innovative partnerships, as well as promoting accessibility, availability and affordability of disaster risk reduction instruments to help reduce vulnerability, boost adaptation, and strengthen resilience in the region. Dr Anthony Nyong, Regional Director of Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA), announced GCA’s recent launch of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, during his speech. The program aims to mobilize US$ 35 billion over the next five years to help African countries and governments build back better. Michael Rattinger, Senior Officer of the European Investment Bank (EIB), closed the morning welcome session by giving a Keynote Address on how the EIB supports climate resilience for Africa’s green recovery. Three Honourable Ministers from various ministries working on climate change gave powerful remarks as part of the Ministerial Session in which they discussed how their countries integrate climate resilience in development planning. These included speeches by Hon. Mr. Soares Cassama, Minister of the Ministry of Environment and Biodiversity of Guinea Bissau; Hon. Mr. Hassan Karneh, Deputy Minister for Research Planning and Policy of the Ministry for Research, Planning and Policy of Liberia; and Hon. Dr. Mahad Hassan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ports and Marine Transport of Somalia. The first of six panel discussions at ACRIS V began discussing “Investing in cross-border

energy infrastructure for enhanced resilience.”

It was chaired by Tendayi Marowa, Chairman of Technical Committee on Energy/Energy Management and Climate Change Mitigation Consultant Business Council for Sustainable Development of Zimbabwe, and he was joined by: (i) Atef Marzouk, Acting Director, Department of Infrastructure & Energy at AUC; (ii) Dr. Hans Jaoko, Regional Energy Advisor for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); (iii) Nopenyo Dabla, Programme Officer Sub-Saharan Africa for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); (iv) Eng. Alison Chikova, Chief Engineer (Planning & Operations) for the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP); (v) Nadja Haakansson, Managing Director for Africa at Siemens Energy Ltd; and (vi) Dr. Rafatou Fofana, Director of the Observatory of Water Resources and Associated Ecosystem of the Volta Basin Authority. During this session, the private-sector experts and senior policymakers exchanged views on the obstacles to cross-border energy infrastructure investment and identified policy and regulatory actions to interconnect Africa’s power systems for enhanced climate resilience. Following Panel 1, the First Open Live Chat was led by Mr. Kofi Adu Domfeh, News Editor of the Multimedia Group. The chat focused

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THREE HONOURABLE MINISTERS FROM VARIOUS MINISTRIES WORKING ON CLIMATE CHANGE GAVE POWERFUL REMARKS AS PART OF THE MINISTERIAL SESSION

on the importance of the media in effectively

communicating climate change and how the

media has a direct role in engaging the public. Mr. Adu Domfeh emphasized that climate change remains an abstract concept to the majority of the populace, and he also addressed the importance of localizing climate change issues as it affects every facet of society. Panel 2 was chaired by Dr. Kanta Kumari Rigaud, Lead Environment Specialist and Climate Change Coordinator for the Africa Region at WBG, and she and the panelists explored how resilience can be viewed as opportunities for African States. The Chair was joined by: (i) Stuart Mangold, Senior Policy Advisor: Africa & Bilateral Relations of Department of Environmental Affairs, Government of South Africa; (ii) Aklilu Fikresilassie, Director of Thriving Resilient Cities at World Resources Institute (WRI) Africa; (iii) Eng. Raphael Sigauke, Acting Deputy Director of Ministry of Transport & Infrastructure Development for Zimbabwe; (iv) Nora Berrahmouni, Senior Forestry Officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; (v) Ali Osman, AFR100 Focal Point of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Physical Development in Sudan; (vi) Dr. Hassan Agouzoul, Senior Expert in sustainable development and climate change at the Ministry of the Environment of Morocco; and (vii) Stephen Dorey, Public Health Specialist at WBG. Panelists spoke about how African countries could overcome the triple challenge of economy, climate, and health to build stronger economies and help local communities become resilient to climate impacts and externally caused shocks. The Second Live Open Chat was held directly after Panel 2 and focused on disaster risk reduction (DRR) for resilience. Participants joined the live networking chat to share DRR strategies being carried out in their respective countries, and they explored the need for early warning systems and investing in climate information services, information and communication infrastructure.

Closing the first day of discussions was Panel

3: Building resilience through natural capital,

nature-based solutions. It was chaired by Sanjay Srivastava, Practice Manager, Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy of WBG, and he was joined by: (i) Dr. Philip Osano, Center Director of Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)-Africa Center; (ii) Teresa Gitonga, Kenya Programme Manager of International Tree Foundation; (iii) Excellent Hachileka, Climate Change Specialist of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); (iv) Dr. Peter Mbile, Senior Field Programs Coordinator of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), (v) Elvis Tangem, Coordinator for AUC; and (vI) Tabi H Joda, Executive Director of GreenAid International - One Billion Trees for Africa. The panelists exchanged views on how nature-based solutions can provide vehicles for delivering comprehensive and cross-sectoral

investments that contribute to both climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, as well as sustainable economic development. The second day of ACRIS V began with Panel 4

on “Boosting food security through Climate-

Smart Agriculture (CSA)”, which was chaired by Dr. Holger Kray, Practice Manager of the Agriculture and Food Global Practice of WBG. He was joined by: (i) Dr. Jethro Zuwarimwe, Senior Lecturer of University of Venda; (ii) Yawo Jonky Tenou, Task Manager of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); (iii) Dr. Berhane Gebru, Technical Adviser of FHI 360; (iv) Prof. Afeikhena Jerome, Special Advisor to the Commissioner for Rural Economy & Agriculture of AUC; (v) Epaphras Ndikumana, Social and Environment Impact Manager of Long Miles Coffee Project (LMCP); and (vi) Kwame Ababio, Senior Programme Officer, Advisory Services of African Union Development Agency – NEPAD. The panelists discussed how CSA could offer an integrated approach to dealing with the challenges of food security and climate change along with the financing and investments strategies needed to bring CSA to life in a postCOVID era.

Directly following this was the Third Open Live Chat entitled Plant-for-the-Planet, and it was hosted Mr. Sagar Aryal, CTO of the Plant-for-thePlanet Foundation.

The fifth panel on “Innovative financing instruments and risk mitigation for climate

resilience in post-COVID Africa” was chaired by Jean-Paul Adam, Director, Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management Division of UNECA, and he was accompanied by: (i) Steve Gray, Regional Representative - West Africa of the United Kingdom Export Finance; (ii) Gunter Fischer, Senior Investment Officer of EIB; (iii) Olufunso Somorin, Regional Principal Officer of AfDB; (iv) Angelique Pouponneau, CEO of Seychelles’ Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust; (v) Dr. Alain Serges Kouadio, Director of The Green Economy of Ministry of The Environment and Sustainable Development of Cote d’Ivoire; (vi) Markus Repnik of WMO; (vii) Lucy Nyirenda, Head of Government Services (East and Southern Africa) of ARC; and (viii) Eman Wahby, Grow In Africa Fund of Impact Investment Fund. Panelists examined the need for African countries to intensify their resource mobilization efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063 through climate-resilient development planning and implementation in the aftermath of the current COVID-19 pandemic. The final themed discussion was the Fourth Live Open Chat entitled “Low-carbon Innovation

Pathways: Towards an open innovation

framework for Africa”, which was led by Dr. Maruf Sanni, Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellow of the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), Centro EuroMediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici. Dr. Sanni exchanged views with participants on how African countries and partners in advanced countries should collaborate on efficient and inclusive low-carbon innovations in technology transfer and financing, as well as capacity

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THE PANELLISTS EXCHANGED VIEWS ON

HOW NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS PROVIDE VEHICLES FOR DELIVERING COMPREHENSIVE AND CROSS-SECTORAL INVESTMENTS THAT

CONTRIBUTE TO CLIMATE MITIGATION AND

ADAPTATION EFFORTS AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

building around project management, exit strategies, and evidence-based policymaking. He discussed how the infrastructure, agriculture, oil and gas, urban development sectors are critical in the fight against climate change on the continent. He also emphasized the need for both developed and developing countries to develop an innovative framework that allows for collaboration across all the critical sectors of the economy that are vulnerable to climate change. The penultimate session to ACRIS V was Panel

6: The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility – successes, opportunities, and

partnerships to build resilience in Africa. It was chaired by Dr. Linus Mofor, Senior Energy and Climate Change Expert - African Climate Policy Centre of UNECA. He was joined by: (i) Aage Jorgensen, Program Manager of NDF; (ii) Evans Kaseke, Programme Manager – Strategic Planning of Zambezi Watercourse Commission; (iii) Hisham Osman, Environmental Engineer of

WBG; (iv) Jostas Mwebembezi, Executive Director of Rwenzori Center for Research and Advocacy; (v) Jae So, Director of Programs (Interim) of GCA; (vi) Benjamin Larroquette, Regional Technical Advisor of UNDP, and (vii) Alex Campbell, Head of Research and Policy of International Hydropower Association. The panel brought together experts to discuss lessons learned from the Africa Climate Resilient Investment Facility (AFRI-RES) program’s first five years and look ahead to how AFRIRES’s knowledge can be incorporated into other investments.

With all discussions concluded and networking functions enjoyed, Mr. Jean-Paul Adam, Director, Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management Division, led the Closing Ceremony with final remarks on ACRIS V. In closing, he thanked all the participants and supporting partners for making the event an overall success and contributing ideas on how to increase climate resilience in Africa. He summarized ACRIS V key discussions with the theme of resilience as the missing ingredient for African’s sustainable development while stressing the need for sustainable infrastructure and investments in adaptation and nature-based solutions as providing immediate opportunities in the Africa development market. He also discussed the challenge in mobilizing resources for climate resilience and channeling financing through innovation in sustainability to tackle resilience with close partnerships being the ultimate solution to climate change. In addition to the six themed plenary sessions, ACRIS V also featured a series of in-depth presentations on energy, resilience, naturebased solutions, CSA solutions, and finance by key private sector experts, senior policymakers, decision-makers, and researchers in the field. n

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PANELLISTS EXAMINED THE NEED FOR AFRICAN COUNTRIES TO INTENSIFY THEIR

RESOURCE MOBILISATION EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE THE 2030 AGENDA AND AGENDA 2063 THROUGH CLIMATE-RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION