Green Climate Fund, FAO commit $134M for projects in Somalia and Iraq

The Green Climate Fund has approved $134 million for two major climate resilience projects in Somalia and Iraq to be led by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO. Announced following the GCF board meeting last month, these projects will help build climate-resistant agricultural systems to safeguard food security in areas increasingly affected by climate-driven conflict and displacement. In Somalia, where 60%-70% of the population relies on livestock and 15% on farming, the $95 million Ugbaad (meaning "hope" in Somali) project is FAO’s largest single-country GCF-funded initiative. Rising temperatures in Somalia, projected to increase by up to 3.4 degrees Celsius by 2080, threaten vital resources like arable land, water, and pasture. The Ugbaad project aims to improve sustainable land management, train farmers in climate-smart techniques, and restore 50,000 hectares of degraded land, which should benefit over 1.2 million people. “Climate change is a matter of survival for Somalia,” Khadija Mohamed Al-Makhzoumi, the country’s minister of environment and climate change, said in a press release. In Iraq, the $29.25 million Strengthening Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Agriculture Livelihoods, or SRVALI, project will target the governorates of Karbala, Muthanna, and Najaf. Temperatures here are also expected to rise significantly, putting more pressure on water resources and crop yields. SRVALI will bring solar-powered irrigation systems, train farmers in water-efficient methods, and implement climate-adaptive farming practices to boost agricultural resilience for 2 million people in rural areas. GCF has a stated commitment to work in countries and contexts that are perceived to be higher risk than many other funders are willing to tolerate. However, critics argue that its historically complex and bureaucratic application process has limited access to these resources for conflict-affected countries. A newly unveiled organizational structure and a streamlined application process are designed to address these challenges, but their effectiveness remains to be seen.