Bonn, 17 November 2017/ ACP: Seventy-nine African, Caribbean and Pacific countries stand to benefit from a €70 million ACP-EU initiative launched in the margins of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in Bonn, to help with implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The new Intra-ACP Global Climate Change Alliance+ (GCCA+) Programme aims to strengthen cooperation and dialogue on climate change, while providing ACP member states with demand-driven technical assistance in various areas including:
  • Climate change mainstreaming in policies, strategies and plans
  • Implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs)
  • Access to climate finance
  • Replication, scaling up and mainstreaming of successful adaptation and mitigation practices
  • General areas that incorporate the climate change and the sustainable development agendas
In a press conference after the launch, the Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States Dr. Patrick I. Gomes emphasized the importance of working with regional organisations to ensure tangible results of the programme reach ACP populations.
“In this Intra-ACP Programme we will attend to the appropriate modalities to optimize what reaches those on the ground where it really matters – both in terms of policies and reaching through to the communities,” he stated.
The Intra-ACP Global Climate Change Alliance+ (GCCA+) Programme is an initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States funded by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) covering the period 2014-2020, as part of the EU’s larger Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+).
Under the programme, regional organisations, government bodies, and non-state actors such as cities/municipalities, universities, research institutions and civil society organisations in ACP countries are able to access support from short-term experts on key climate change challenges.
This continues on the achievements made under the first Intra-ACP GCCA programme which ran from 2011 to 2016. Some examples of technical assistance work carried out during this period across ACP countries include:
  • Review of the National Land-Use Policy of the Dominican Republic to integrate climate change aspects and vulnerability risks
  • Preparation of a roadmap for starting up a REDD+ programme in Ivory Coast
  • Training of trainers on mainstreaming climate change into development planning in West Africa
  • Development of a new website, knowledge-sharing platform and instructional videos on climate-resilient practices for resilient livelihoods in Pemba, Tanzania.
To apply for support or for more information, simply send an email to: intra-acp-gccaplus@acp.int, or contact the programme’s team leader Dr Pendo Maro (pendomaro@acp.int).
Visit the GCCA+ website: www.gcca.eu/intra-acp
(Photos from top: European Commission Director Mr. Roberto Ridolfi, Ambassador John Weru of Kenya, ACP Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes; Launch of the programme at the Fiji Pavilion in Bonn; Mr. Roberto Ridolfi, Amb. Johnson Weru, Dr. Pendo Maro (Head of the Intra-ACP Programme of the GCCA+, Dr. Patrick Gomes, Climate ambassador of the Fiji COP23 Presidency Amb. Deo Saran)