A 5-day conference is currently underway in the Belgian capital, Brussels, focused on identifying new funding pathways and opportunities for resilience-building projects in European Union and British Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs). The Climate Finance Forum (CFF) is organized by the Green Overseas (GO) Programme, funded by the European Union under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) and implemented by Expertise France since 2020.
OCTs are at the forefront of climate impacts, but their links to governing authorities in Europe and the UK mean they are unable to tap into international climate finance programmes tailored for adaptation and mitigation projects. OCTs must therefore rely on funding from the EU and UK to develop adequate resilience-building plans. As part of this, the CFF in Brussels is seeking to unlock access to funding opportunities and mechanisms beyond the EU and the UK, by bringing together over 130 stakeholders to catalyze the next steps in developing workable sustainable solutions for OCTs.
Ahead of the event, Ahab Downer, GO Programme Director expressed: “With the current and projected impacts of climate change, it’s critical that OCTs gain access to sufficient funding to underwrite the requisite resilience building initiatives. The GO Climate Finance Forum offers a unique opportunity for representatives from across the OCTs to liaise, exchange, and brainstorm with each other, as well as with a wealth of climate finance experts and providers of finance. The structured dialog afforded by the Climate Finance Forum will allow participants to formulate together practical and actionable plans to close the funding gap, and more effectively address the intensifying challenges of climate change for their increasingly vulnerable countries and territories.”
During this 5-day event, high-level representatives from the EU, the UK and their OCTs are engaging in debates, workshops, and discussions alongside experts from civil society on the best way forward to close the funding gap and safeguard these communities at the frontlines of the climate crisis.
During the opening ceremony, Walter Roban, Deputy Premier and Minister for Home Affairs, Government of Bermudanoted in his keynote address, “In Bermuda, we have embraced the reality that ocean protection is critical to securing livelihoods, including food security, and ensuring a sustainable blue economy for the future of our country and future generations – whether through fishing, tourism, renewable energy. Our ocean, for us, holds great economic potential and the work that we are doing is to ensure the safety, security, and prosperity of our
ocean and the environment around it. It is crucial that all countries, particularly OCTs, understand the importance of sustainably managing the oceans around us and all of our ocean resources, to embrace and tap into unharnessed economic and environmental potential. Islands like ours that are on the frontline of climate change must see ourselves as trailblazers, must see ourselves as pioneers – despite the vulnerabilities that we have. This is a necessity. And it will help ensure a path towards financial and economic independence and sustainability. “
“The 25 European and UK Overseas Countries and Territories represented at this Forum could not be more geographically dispersed or more diverse in terms of our histories and our cultures, but we are absolutely united in a situation in which we find ourselves. We are all on the frontlines of climate change, […] you could argue that as overseas countries and territories, we have the most at stake and the biggest role to play,” Dr. Tasha Ebanks-Garcia, Cayman Islands Government Representative to the UK added, “We are all aware of the scale of the task ahead, but with global leadership and very active involvement from all countries and territories, not least the 25 represented here, we believe we have the ingenuity and the resources to tackle the climate crisis. Indeed all of us here at this forum bring a crucial perspective and have a vital role to play.”
In his address, Ignacio Ybáñez, Special Envoy on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), European External Action Service highlighted how intertwined SIDS and EU OCTs are, saying: “The relations between SIDS and Overseas Countries and Territories is an important issue for the EU as well as for SIDS, from the 18 associate members of SIDS, 2 are EU outermost regions and 5 are EU Overseas Territories. Other EU OCTs also have strong connections with SIDS. The EU will work to improve the cooperation between SIDS and other islands, notably with the EU’s outermost regions and overseas countries and territories with which they share some common characteristics. The forum that starts today will be an excellent opportunity to move in the right direction and I hope to be able to interact with the OCTs present here at the forum to see how we can do that.”
The GO CFF highlights the shared ambition of the EU and UK in closing funding gaps for OCTs and developing workable solutions for resilience-building efforts. On the international stage, climate finance has been a divisive issue at successive United Nations climate negotiations (UNFCCC COPs), and is set to be at the top of the agenda again at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
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