JICA and UNDP Reaffirm Collaboration

on Climate Change Adaptation in Africa

Scale and complexity of climate challenge demands greater coherence

among development partners, says head of Africa Adaptation Programme

In a meeting in Tokyo in late July, representatives of the Japan International

Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) reaffirmed their commitment to work together in support of adaptation to
climate change in Africa, and discussed ways of strengthening their collaboration.

“The profusion and diversity of

climate adaptation projects
supported by donors can be
overwhelming for developing
countries,” says Ian Rector,
head of the Africa Adaptation
Programme (AAP). “Anything
we can do to coordinate and
harmonize our efforts will not
only reduce the burden on host
countries but also promote
more sustainable results.”

“Adapting to a world that is 2 degrees Celsius warmer requires that we improve our
adaptive capacity and mainstream climate change issues into development
planning,” said Veerle Vandeweerd, head of UNDP’s Environment and Energy Group.

“It’s a big job. We clearly need to maximize the impact of our efforts. This is why we
greatly value our partnership with Japan and welcome this rededication to our
common cause,” she said.

Masayuki Karasawa, Deputy Director General of Operations Strategy Department,

JICA, added “closer communication and information sharing between JICA and
UNDP both at the field as well as HQs level can help facilitate more effective
collaboration”.
In 2009, JICA and UNDP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of
increasing the effectiveness of their efforts to achieve their common development
goals, including through the AAP. Recent discussions, including those last month in
Tokyo, reaffirmed this commitment and established an agreement to continue their
biannual review and discussion of progress.

Following its merger with the overseas economic cooperation arm of the Japan Bank
for International Cooperation, JICA is one of the biggest bilateral donor agencies in
the world. UNDP leads the UN’ development effort in the developing world with
offices in 166 countries. Based on each of comparative advantage, the collaboration
between JICA and UNDP is to enhance development impacts on the ground.

“This partnership exemplifies real synergies between two crucial and

complementary parts of the development process,” said Mr. Rector. “It is an
important step toward more coherent, programmatic support to countries in
adapting to climate change,” he said.

Higher temperatures, decreased rainfall, increased storm intensity, rising sea levels
and the arrival of new pests and diseases are among the effects of climate change
expected to confront the development process. The AAP strategy is to help
developing countries increase their capacity to transform the climate vulnerability of
their national development strategies to greater climate resilience.

The AAP, a flagship programme of UNDP, is helping 20 countries in Africa develop

their capacity to design and implement holistic climate adaptation and disaster risk
reduction programmes that are aligned with their national development priorities. It
was launched in December 2008 under the Japan-UNDP Joint Framework for
Building Partnership to Address Climate Change in Africa with funding of US$92
million from the government of Japan. The Programme is an integral part of the
Yokohama Action Plan of the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African
Development (TICAD IV).

For more information on the Africa Adaptation Programme, please contact

mihoko.kumamoto@undp.org in New York or Ian Rector ianr@unops.org in Dakar,
or visit www.undp-adaptation.org/africaprogramme/.