A new climate finance roadmap to help the Solomon Islands access potential funding for adaptation and mitigation work
Communities bearing the brunt of climate change in the Solomons will soon benefit from a new climate finance roadmap.
The roadmap, to help the Solomon Islands access potential funding for adaptation and mitigation work, is part of a Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIF) partnership with the Solomon Islands Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT). Key partners are the Gov4Res Project of the United Nations Development Programme, who are supporting the development of the climate finance roadmap, with the national Climate Resilience and Finance Unit (CRFU).
In a 2017 Climate Change and Disaster Risk Finance Assessment, key issues were capacity constraints and lack of technical expertise to comply with climate change funding source technical requirements.
Dentana Mckinnie, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, stressed the critical role of the Ministry in providing strategic advice, leadership and reporting on economic reforms, monetary, budget, and fiscal policy to the Solomon Islands Government.
He said the Finance Ministry, “is taking a strategic view of how to best match climate adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk management on all infrastructure projects when securing potential funding sources from donors – this is to ensure long term sustainability for long term benefit of all investments.”
“We have established a dedicated Climate Resilience and Finance Unit within the Ministry to establish financing strategies, integrate climate finance into the financing process, and ensuring a coordinated approach to climate finance information and data sharing and monitoring,” PS Dentana added.
PS Dentana said through the technical support, the Solomon Islands Government intends to develop a roadmap that would boost the Ministry’s capability to identify, secure and manage funding from international organisations to support projects dedicated to climate change adaptation, mitigation, and risk management.
PIF Secretary-General, Henry Puna says the new collaboration with the Solomon Islands Government and UNDP will contribute to improve coordination between key stakeholders and effective access and management of climate change resources. “This support will also lead to better integration of climate finance into national plans and budgets given the lead role of the CRFU to coordinate climate finance in the country,” he said.
Chris Paul, a Solomon Islands national and a free-lance consultant, who had worked extensively in the areas of climate change and climate change finance in Solomon Islands was appointed to lead the preparation phase of the five-year roadmap for the CRFU. Paul will be based at the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and will work closely with all national stakeholders to develop clear strategic objectives and an action plan to guide the work of the Unit.
The Climate Resilience and Finance Unit was established within MoFT in 2018. This initiative was supported by the National Designated Authority under the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) to effectively progress the climate change response and reform required to improve access to climate finance.
This initiative has been made possible through funding support from the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
This story was originally published at PIFS and Solomon Islands Govt on 09 June 2022, reposted via PACNEWS.
