Forgotten frontlines: looking at the climate finance going to fragile and conflict affected states in 2019-20
Ibado lives in the village of Oog in Somaliland. She is assisting IDP’s that are victim of the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa. Photo credit: Petterik Wiggers/Oxfam Novib
Through analysing climate finance provided to 37 fragile and conflict affected states (FCAS) in 2019-20, we find that the scale of finance going to these contexts is far below what is needed, at an average of 13.64 USD per person per year, and much of it is of poor quality. Despite being responsible for a small proportion of emissions, in 2019-20, over half of the climate finance for FCAS came in the form of debt-creating instruments such as loans, and almost one-tenth was provided as non-concessional loans.
The case studies presented here (from Iraq, Syria, Somaliland and Burkina Faso) illustrate the complexities of accessing climate finance and delivering climate projects and programmes in countries facing conflict, but they also point towards solutions.