Three Malian institutions have been selected as “accredited entities” to combat climate change under the auspices of the Green Climate Fund. Bamako recently hosted a “structured dialogue with Africa” for the Fund.

Mali Folkecenter currently identifies new renewable energy projects to meet the requirements of the Green Climate Fund, the large fund established six years ago by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to find a more balanced way of sharing the global burden to counter climate change.

With its 19 years’ of expertise Mali Folkecenter is well placed to be a successful partner to the Climate Fund and anticipates to propose a project portfolio to the tune of 10 to 20 million US dollars.

This comes at the backdrop of a preliminary selection process that found Mali Folkecenter and two other Malian organisations eligible for funding.

Another organisation is the National Agency of Investment of the Territorial Communities, or ANICT in French abbreviation, under the Malian Ministry of Territorial Community. ANICT serves as a support structure for local and regional authorities in Mali and was chosen to carry out projects at municipality level.

The third one is the bank, BDM, that is to propose projects in the private sector.

According to the rules of the Fund the operations of the three selected Malian institutions are now being scrutinized by the Environment and Sustainable Development Agency (or AEDD in French abbreviation).

AEDD acts as a “National Designated Authority” in order to meet a basic requirement by the Fund, namely that all “activities are aligned with the priorities of developing countries through the principle of country ownership”.

Projects are supported by the Climate Fund, but inception and implementation must be overseen by national agencies like AEDD.

Malian coordination

All three organisations participated in a recent large international event organized by the Green Climate Fund over four days in Hotel Amitié in the heart of Bamako.

The purpose of this “structured dialogue with Africa” was to inform African stakeholders about the procedures of the fund and the possibilities for approval as a new partner.

While the “dialogue” took place in Hotel Amitié parallel meetings were held in Hotel Laico el Farouk in Bamako organized by Mali Folkecenter and the umbrella organisation Reso-climate Mali. Here the focus was on funding possibilities for Malian organisations working to combat climate change.

A general consensus arose during the debate in Hotel Farouk that Malian organisations ought to coordinate activities and applications, and that Mali has a potential to attract strong focus from the Climate Fund.

As one speaker in Hotel Farouk put it about solar energy possibilities and the many energetic Malian organisations: “We (in Mali, ed.) have the sun, the space and the will”.

The fundamental idea behind the fund derives from the fact that the industrialized global North bears the greatest responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and climate change and is in a stronger position to carry the expenses needed to solve the problem. The global South, in comparison, is a minor polluter, but equally affected by the problem.

The fund is a product of discussions during the “Conference of Partners”  and international negotiations dating back almost two decades, starting with the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro in 1992