By Pita Ligaiula in Koror, Palau
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has doubled its commitments to the Pacific over the past three years and could approve another US$1 billion in projects for the region, but Executive Director Mafalda Duarte says the growing demand is putting increasing pressure on the Fund’s available resources.
In a PACNEWS exclusive interview this week in Koror, Duarte said the GCF had increased its Pacific commitments to around US$1 billion, unlocking an estimated US$2.4 billion in total investment.
The increase comes as Pacific leaders continue to press international climate funds to move faster and reduce the complexity and costs involved in accessing finance.
Duarte said simplifying access remained a central part of the GCF’s reform agenda.
“This is exactly what I was talking about — all of these reforms to simplify access.
“We hope that the countries will really experience the impacts of these reforms,” she said.
Duarte said the GCF was prepared to consider further changes if Pacific countries found that the new processes still created unnecessary barriers.
She said the Fund was encouraging governments to provide feedback as they began using the reformed systems.
“We’ve been telling them as well, as they experience these new processes and simplified processes, if there are other measures that they wish us to take, that they think it would be good to consider, we are quite open to that,” Duarte said.
Pacific governments have repeatedly raised concerns that climate finance is often difficult and time-consuming to access, particularly for small administrations with limited technical capacity.
Duarte said the recent increase in GCF financing showed that the Pacific’s case for greater international climate support was being recognised.
“It’s one of our key messages here in the PIF — just over the last three years, we doubled the commitment to the Pacific,” she said.
Duarte said the Fund had increased its ambition in the Pacific because of the region’s climate vulnerability and growing financing needs.
“The Pacific have been globally making the case for the need to increase ambition [and] finance in the Pacific, given the vulnerabilities and the needs,” she said.
She said the GCF already had a mandate to direct 50 percent of its financing towards adaptation, with priority given to Small Island Developing States(SIDS), Least Developed Countries and Africa.
According to Duarte, more than 60 percent of the Fund’s financing was currently directed towards these priority geographies.
“In the last three years, we doubled what we had done in the previous seven years,” she said.
Duarte said GCF commitments in the Pacific were now about US$1.02 billion and were expected to unlock US$2.4 billion in total investment.
But she said the pipeline of projects seeking GCF support was growing rapidly.
“We have project proposals with us for very, very significant amounts.
“We could easily see another US$1 billion for the Pacific from regional initiatives and from national initiatives as well,” she told PACNEWS.
The biggest challenge, she said, would be how to meet the demand.
“The key challenge for us is going to be how to respond to all of that demand, given the resource constraint that we have as well,” Duarte said.
Duarte said the GCF was also responding to growing concerns about the impact of climate change on Pacific tuna fisheries.
The issue was highlighted during the Forum meetings, where Pacific Community scientists warned that rising global temperatures could force tuna stocks to migrate, affecting fisheries revenue and food security.
Duarte said the GCF had approved a major investment with Conservation International aimed at helping Pacific countries respond to changing tuna distribution.
The project includes measures to improve coastal and urban communities’ access to tuna, strengthen national fisheries systems and improve forecasting to help countries manage the redistribution of tuna stocks.
“It is quite a significant project,” Duarte said.
She said about 25 percent of the Pacific population was expected to benefit directly or indirectly from the initiative.
The project is intended to help Pacific countries prepare for climate-driven changes to tuna stocks, while protecting the economic and food security benefits derived from one of the region’s most important resources.
Duarte also highlighted a US$44 million GCF-supported project covering Tonga, Vanuatu and Samoa aimed at strengthening food production and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
The programme is expected to directly benefit more than 50,000 people, while nearly 220,000 people could benefit through broader policy measures, extension services and improved local food supplies.
“It is really to strengthen food production and smallholder livelihoods,” Duarte said.
She said the programme would cover about 20,000 hectares, equivalent to around 13 percent of the agricultural land across the three countries.
“These are significant programmes that really stand to make a significant impact in these countries,” she said.
The projects reflect the growing pressure on Pacific economies from climate change, including risks to tuna fisheries, agriculture and food security.
For Duarte, the challenge now is not only increasing the amount of climate finance available, but ensuring Pacific countries can access it faster and with fewer administrative barriers.
The Fund’s message to Pacific leaders, she said, is that reforms are under way but the GCF remains open to further changes as countries test the new systems.
