K14bn climate initiative winds up

Malawi has wrapped up a £8 million (about 14 billion) initiative that exemplified Scotland’s commitment to unlocking financing for least developed countries worst affected by climate change. During the shutdown at Sunuzi in Zomba, Michael Makonombera, deputy director of environmental affairs in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change, said the five-year project offered numerous lessons on how to strengthen vulnerable communities’ capacity to anticipate, absorb and overcome climate shocks. He challenged development partners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to avoid piecemeal interventions that leave vulnerable communities ill-prepared to face disasters made more frequent and severe by climate change.

Makonombera stated: “As one of the least developed countries, Malawi needs the support of partners like the Scottish Government to cope with climate shocks. So, partners coming to work with our people should learn from the Climate Just Communities project. They should come with a full package that will fully empower the people by the time the projects phase out.” He said closing of aid taps is a call for affected countries like Malawi to become creative and innovative to close the financing gap amid low commitment to fulfill their financial pledges for climate action.

Developing countries like Malawi suffer the worst impacts of climate change, but African governments and activist say financial inflows remain scanty and slow. At CoP26, the United Nations Climate Change Summit held in Glasgow in 2021, Scotland became the first developed nation to pledge dedicated funding to support vulnerable nations tackling climate-related destruction. The Scottish Government initially pledged £1 million, but later established a £36 million Climate Justice Fund to address climate injustice and support vulnerable communities in the Global South.

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The push gave did not just give rise to a special loss and damage fund adopted at CoP27 in Egypt. It resulted in the Climate Just Communities (CJC) project that targeted seven districts across Malawi along with parts of Zambia and Rwanda. According to CJC project director Anne Brady, it has reached over 100 000 people in Zomba, Neno, Chikwawa, Machinga, Karonga, Salima and Phalombe to entrench climate justice and community resilience.

She thanked local communities for taking ownership and leading roles to make the project a success. The interventions included goat-sharing, village savings and loans groups, enhanced water supply for vulnerable communities, irrigation schemes to beat erratic rainfall and farming techniques that help farmers harvest more amid climate change.

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