There is a pressing need to finance climate adaptation schemes due to the fact that adaptation costs for developing countries have multiplied by five- to 10-fold, said Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad, citing the latest Adaptation Gap report issued by the United Nations Environment Programme.

Fouad was speaking with shareholders in the Adaptation Fund at a seminar organised as part of the COP26 recently held in Glasgow. The seminar was attended by John Kerry, the US presidential envoy for climate, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK secretary of state for international trade and the British International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 Presidency, as well as environment ministers.

The Adaptation Fund plays a bigger role now more than ever, being a significant channel for delivering funds for countries to adapt to climate change, Fouad said. For more than a decade the fund has been supporting 119 countries to build multi-pronged long-term resilience to overcome climate change threats, health, environmental, and economic hazards, and the dangers associated with the coronavirus pandemic, she stated.

World countries have to continue to support the Adaptation Fund to be able to carry on its mission, Fouad continued, pointing out that the US has pumped $2.05 billion into the fund.

The Adaptation Fund supported two projects in Egypt with over $10 million The first is called Adaptation to Climate Changes in the North Coast and Nile Delta and focuses on efforts to prevent seawater from seeping into groundwater, to limit the latter’s salinity. The second is concerned with the protection of low-lying areas prone to sinking. This takes place through using earthern bridge systems with reed fencing on top of bridges to trap windborne sand. The sand collected on the reed walls forms a system of sand dunes above sea level to stop the expansion of the sea into the coastal zone during strong storms.

Fouad hailed the fund’s decision to increase the maximum financing to each country from $10 million to $20 million and the bodies to receive the funds from one to two in each state.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 11 November, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly