Financing Climate Change Adaptation in Transboundary Basins

16 Financing Climate Change Adaptation in Transboundary Basins (SIDS) that are not least developed countries (LDCs) and therefore ineligible for LDCF support have received SCCF adaptation support. At the behest of the UNFCCC COP, the SCCF provided grant financ- ing toward a global support program for NAPs in non-LDCs. The LDCF was created by UNFCCC parties to support the preparation and implementation of NAPAs in the 51 LDC s 8 and is operated by GEF. The LDCF helps to identify priority activities, design, and implement adaptation projects. As mandated by the UNFCCC COP, the LDCF supports the NAPs process. As of 2017, the Fund has supported 252 projects and programs in 51 LDCs, the largest portfolio of adaptation projects of its kind. As of 2017, the Fund has approved around US$1.2 billion in grant funding for projects and programs, leveraging almost US$5 billion in financing from partners, and is expected to deliver climate resil- ience benefits to more than 20 million people through the current portfolio of active projects (UN CDP 2016). 2.3.3 Adaptation Fund In 2007, the Kyoto Protocol established the Adaptation Fund (AF) to bolster support for adaptation by generat- ing financing through the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. The AF supports developing countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, including low-lying and other small island countries; countries with low-lying coastal, arid, and semi-arid areas or areas liable to floods, drought and desertifica- tion; and those with fragile mountainous ecosystems . 9 BOX 2.1. Case Study: Fostering Multi-Country Cooperation over Conjunctive Surface and Groundwater Management in the Bug and Neman Transboundary River Basins and the Underlying Aquifer Systems GEF-IW project ID 9767; GEF grant funding: approx. US$3 million The proposed project assists Belarus and Ukraine to (i) join Poland and Lithuania in reaching a common understanding of the water resources of the shared basins, the existing pressures and drivers of change impacting the sustainability of the resources, and the dependent ecosystems, in particular increasing climatic variability and change and to move toward joint planning and management of the basins; (ii) agree on policy, legal, and institutional reforms, and investments to improve water security and resilience to the impacts of climatic variability and change, and enhance the sustainability of the transboundary freshwater resources and dependent ecosystems in the Bug and Neman basins; and (iii) accelerate the transformative processes by pilot testing conjunctive management solutions, and consolidating transboundary coordination and cooperation. The project will also support countries in implementing the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU WFD) and the 1992 Water Convention serviced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) will embrace a comprehensive cross-sectoral approach analyzing freshwater resources in their entirety (surface and groundwater), and under many usage perspectives and interactions and under future climatic scenarios. This approach is a response to the priorities set forth by the GEF-6 IW Strategy on conjunctive surface and groundwater management, and on the water nexus conflicts. Another aspect of innovation is the broad geographic scope of the project, encompassing two adjacent and similar basins, artificially connected and characterized by the largely unregulated flows and by strong surface– groundwater interactions. Cooperation among the countries, both GEF beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries, within this vast periglacial region, will maximize opportunities for broader adoption, and sharing of experiences.