Managing Director's Remarks at the Leaders’ Dialogue on Adaptation Action in Africa and Inauguration of the Global Champion for the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program
IMF News, July 7, 2022
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Managing Director's Remarks at the Leaders’ Dialogue on Adaptation Action in Africa and Inauguration of the Global Champion for the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Published: July 7, 2022
Key messages
- Congratulated President Kenyatta on appointment as Global Champion for the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program.
- Emphasized need for leadership and Champions to scale up global adaptation and its financing, particularly for the most vulnerable countries.
- Highlighted urgency due to simultaneous shocks: sharp increase in cost of living and rising food insecurity in many regions.
Economic impacts and urgency
- Frequent extreme weather events cause human tragedy and socio-economic disruption.
- Over the medium term, annual economic growth in Africa can decline an additional 1 percentage point with each drought.
- Prevention and resilience investments are both more cost-effective than disaster relief and create jobs, raise incomes, and improve living standards.
Financing needs and priorities
- Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa need to spend at least 2-3 percent of GDP per year on adaptation.
- No country can shoulder these costs alone, especially given elevated debts following the pandemic crisis.
- International community must meet or exceed the goal of providing $100 billion in climate finance to developing countries each year.
- A sizable amount of climate finance must be allocated to adaptation in addition to mitigation.
- The AAAP and its upstream financing facility are important mechanisms to support adaptation investments.
IMF role and support
- IMF is stepping up assistance through policy advice, data, and capacity development to help members tackle climate change.
- The Resilience and Sustainability Trust will provide affordable financing so vulnerable countries can address longer-term challenges.
- IMF is partnering with on-the-ground actors, including the Global Center on Adaptation, to implement resilience-building efforts.
Framing and call to action
- Building resilience turns challenges into opportunities and aligns the green transition with investments in infrastructure, social safety nets, and climate-adaptive agriculture.
- Appeal for collective action: international support, financing, and leadership are essential to accelerate climate adaptation for the benefit of all.
- Quotation invoked for teamwork: “100 percent of me is nothing compared to 1 percent of the whole team.”
Source: Managing Director's Remarks at the Leaders’ Dialogue on Adaptation Action in Africa and Inauguration of the Global Champion for the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, July 7, 2022.