Posted on :Wednesday , 4th September 2024

The SADC secretariat has launched the SADC Regional Climate Resilient Water Investment Programme (SADC-AIP), a regional initiative to support climate resilience and water security in the region, ahead of the Summit of Heads of State of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on August 17 in Harare, Zimbabwe.  

Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are among the 13 nations in the area that stand to gain from the SADC AIP.  

For the SADC Regional Water Investment Programme, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is offering an initial project preparation grant of US$1.5 million through the GCF Project Preparation Facility (PPF). The program is projected to benefit 140 million people in the SADC region and will be carried out by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), SADC, and Global Water Partnership Southern Africa. It seeks to leverage at least USD 117 million.

The AIP, which was ratified by the heads of state of the African Union in February 2021, includes the SADC-AIP. By 2030, the AIP hopes to raise an extra USD 30 billion yearly to cover the estimated USD 45–54 billion annual water investment gap in Africa.  

The AIP Blended Water Investment Facility will be established as part of the SADC-AIP to assist nations in leveraging grant, ODA, and public funds to de-risk priority water investments. Sovereign wealth funds, guarantees, private equity and institutional investors, foundations, value-based impact investing, and climate finance are a few of these.  

Building climate resilience and accomplishing water-related socioeconomic development goals in line with the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require accurate hydro-climatic knowledge and data. Nevertheless, the lack of trustworthy data and strong early warning systems makes it difficult to make science-led investment decisions. Water infrastructure and hydrological monitoring systems are also harmed by the effects of climate change.  

In order to overcome these obstacles, SADC-AIP will make use of strong political resolve to improve the availability of trustworthy climate data and early warning systems as well as to carry out game-changing water investments. Innovative blended finance and private sector sources, including pension funds, insurance funds, sovereign wealth funds, guarantees, and private equity, will also be accessed through these interventions.