Climate change remains one of the biggest obstacles to the attainment of sustainable socio-economic development. East African countries are particularly vulnerable due to their weak economies and heavy reliance on agriculture, which is less resilient to negative impacts of climate change.
EADB has scaled up its environment and social management systems to ensure full integration of environmental and social considerations into its operations and the operations of entities it supports through its lending and investment activities. This is designed to ensure adherence to international best practice in environmental and social risk management and ultimately sustainable development of member states.
To consolidate its environmental initiatives across the region, the Bank entered into an important partnership with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the establishment of a Regional Collaboration Centre at the Bank’s headquarters in Kampala, Uganda.
The centre, which covers 23 countries mainly in Anglophone Africa, will help address historical lack of equity in regional distribution of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and could help the region increase its attractiveness and potential for CDM.
“The partnership with UNFCCC fits quite well into our most important mandate of facilitating sustainable development through long term financing and technical support,” said EADB Director General, Ms. Vivienne Yeda.