Fund operating only in the last two years

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, December 4, 2016 (PNG)

THE Green Climate Fund (GCF) has begun operations to give out grants to climate change affected countries in the last two years, despite being established in 2011.

When referring to the time taken to reach Papua New Guinea for the global fund, GCF Regional Advisor to the Pacific Coral Pasisi, said despite its establishment date the fund still had a lot of its structures to be formulated along with those of countries it is geared towards assisting that are affected by the climate phenomenon.

With the fund only arriving in Papua New Guinea earlier in the year and holding its first workshop with stakeholders on Tuesday was the first- with even the national government and leaders echoing the need for Papua New Guinea to gain access to global funding with the country’s large carbon sink capturing carbon from the rest of the world without due compensation ever reaching the country’s shores.

“I think it is important to note that when you establish an institution like the Green Climate fund at the global level, the agreement one year is yes we all agree we need a GCF and it takes a year to negotiate the legal instrument, and take a year to negotiate where the fund is going to be and who is the executive director and to populate that with the secretariat sufficient to manage the expectations,” Ms Pasisi explained.

“So there is a lot of governance structures that need to be set up, which is essentially why we’ve only been operation over the last two years and we have only been open for business for big projects in the last year.”

“So the timeframe although it sound short just takes a long time to get those things up and going. And for most countries the establishment of the National Designated Authorities (NDAs) is a key point because that is when the country starts to say this is what we are setting up by way of processes and when we want the GCF to come and help with these consultations we will invite them in.”

She however pointed out that the timing was right to come into the country, with the fund being thankful for the NDA (Climate Change Development Authority) for the invitation to conduct the one day workshop in Port Moresby.

“It is getting all the stakeholders to the starting line and understanding so they can effectively engage with the NDA and engage with the GCF as well.”