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March 24, 2024 | UK, Education, Agriculture, Gender Equality, Agricultural R&D, Nutritious Food Systems, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, Family Planning, WASH & Sanitation, Climate, Global Health, Security policy | Share this update
On March 24, 2024, BOND published a new manifesto setting out the steps the next UK government should take to help deliver on the SDGs and work in solidarity with its partners.
The manifesto is based around seven key asks:
March 11, 2024 | Canada, UK, Agriculture, Climate, Global Health, Gender Equality | Share this update
On March 11, 2024, the CLARE partnership between the UK and Canada’s IDRC launched 17 research projects designed to build climate resilience and reduce vulnerability in LICs and LMICs, valued at CAD180 million (US$133 million).
The research projects aim to support socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards in African partners and the Asia-Pacific region. Researchers in recipient countries are leading or co-leading the research, which will embed gender equality and inclusion principles and will address a wide range of climate change issues in the fields of agriculture, health, urban adaptation, water security, among others.
February 29, 2024 | UK, Climate | Share this update
On February 29, 2024, ICAI, the UK’s international assistance watchdog, released its rapid review of the UK’s international climate finance commitments.
The review found that 55% of the UK’s GBP11.6 billion (US$13.9 billion) ICF commitment will not be disbursed until the last two years of the pledge.
The review also found that GBP1.7 billion (US$2.1 billion) of existing funding was recounted as ICF spending, due to a change in counting methodology. In essence, existing climate-related core contributions to multilateral development banks are included alongside 30% of humanitarian programs operating in the 10% of countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Due to the delay in disbursements and changes to the counting of ICF, estimates of the commitment's prioritization in the ODA budget have been significantly reduced from 83% reported in July 2023 to 28% in 2024, reducing potential trade-offs between climate funding and other priorities.
The review also recommended that the UK government:
February 2, 2024 | Norway, UK, US, Climate | Share this update
On February 2, 2024, it was announced that Norad joined the partnership launching the GGC launched on the London Stock Exchange, alongside the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, USAID, the GCF, Prosper Africa and the FCDO's MOBILIST program.
The GGC will provide guarantees for institutional investors buying green bonds on the London Stock Exchange, as well as green bonds in the private credit market.
Norad has invested NOK52 million (US$5 million) in the GGC. By 2035, the GGC aims to mobilize US$5 billion in climate financing for partner countries. The launch comes as the IEA urges low- and middle- income countries to increase their investment in renewables by 700% to continue economic growth while limiting the effects of climate change.
January 29, 2024 | UK, Japan, Climate, Global Health | Share this update
The UK-Japan 21st Century Committee is set to hold its 40th joint meeting from February 2-4, 2024, focusing on key topics including bilateral foreign policy, international security, climate change and energy, global health, and AI.
This event continues the tradition of high-level dialogue and cooperation between the two nations. Originally established in 1985 by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, the UK - Japan 21st Century Group, formerly known as the UK - Japan 2000 Group, serves as a vital platform for fostering mutual understanding and collaboration. Comprising leaders from the private sector, public sector, and civil society, the group’s annual conferences alternate between the UK and Japan, addressing a wide range of critical issues from educational and cultural exchange to global security and economic policies.
At the 39th joint meeting in January 2023, held at the University of East Anglia in the UK, key discussions revolved around recent political and economic developments in both countries, global health challenges post-pandemic, and the evolving security landscape, particularly in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The conference also delved into economic security, emphasizing the need for resilient supply chains and cooperation in the face of global economic disruptions. Cooperative dialogues, rooted in shared values and strategic interests, underscored the group’s ongoing commitment to enhancing the UK - Japan partnership in various global contexts.
January 19, 2024 | UK, Agriculture, Nutritious Food Systems, Climate | Share this update
On January 19, 2024, the UK government announced that it has accepted all the recommendations made by the ICAI's review of the Blue Planet Fund, which included GBP500 million (US$599 million) in ODA for a DEFRA-managed fund aimed at protecting the marine environment and reducing poverty in low- and middle-income countries.
The review also recommended:
December 27, 2023 | UK, Agriculture, Nutritious Food Systems, Climate | Share this update
On December 27, 2023, the UK government announced that it would commit GBP67 million (US$80 million) to the 2025-2027 replenishment of the IFAD.
IFAD is a UN agency dedicated to supporting those living in extreme poverty in rural areas. Nearly half of the world’s population lives in rural areas, and smallholder farmers produce 70% of the food in low- and middle-income countries.
UK Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell stated that the funding will boost food security, help alleviate poverty and support the environment. The UK has been a strong supporter of IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Program, which enables smallholder farmers to gain access to climate finance to support adaptation efforts and protect biodiversity.
December 19, 2023 | UK, Agricultural R&D, Nutritious Food Systems, Climate | Share this update
On December 19, 2023, the UK government released a new policy paper entitled Global Food Security Summit 2023 Chair's Summary: towards zero hunger and ending malnutrition, which provided a summary of the key outcomes and announcements of the UK-hosted Global Food Security Summit, held in November 2023 in London.
The summit was organized around three key themes:
Thematic Area 1: New approaches to ending preventable deaths of children.
This session highlighted that nutrition is an essential part of UHC and called for the need to integrate nutrition services into primary health care. The session also called for a more coherent approach to addressing early prevention and detection of child wasting and highlighted the need for more sustainable financing to address the issue. Associated announcements at the Summit included:
Thematic Area 2: Anticipating and preventing famine and food security crises.
This session focused on the importance of prevention and anticipation strategies in countries facing the intertwined impacts of climate and conflict and the need to mainstream early warning systems. It also highlighted the need to scale-up disaster risk finance for fragile and conflict-affected states and ensure that flexible social protection systems are in place that can respond to shocks. It recognized the crucial role of civil society in crisis response and women’s empowerment as key to tackling food insecurity. Associated announcements included:
Thematic Area 3: Building a climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture and food system.
This session focused on the need to support the transition to sustainable nutritious food plans, and systems via country, region-led and global initiatives, plans, and platforms. It also noted the need to use evidence-based approaches based on what has worked and called for more climate finance to be mobilized for agriculture, with a particular focus on supporting small-holder farmers. Associated announcements included:
Thematic Area 4: Harnessing science and technology for food security.
This session highlighted the importance of science and innovation in supporting food security and nutrition and called for improved accessibility to the benefits of scientific and technological advancement. It focused on the need to support sustainable scaling up of research and innovation through consistent, stable political and financial support and innovative finance models. Associated announcements included:
December 13, 2023 | UK, Gender Equality, Nutritious Food Systems, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, Family Planning, Climate, Global health R&D, Global Health | Share this update
On December 13, 2023, departing Chief Executive of Oxfam Great Britain Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah called on the UK Labour Party to ensure it puts global solidarity at the center of their international development policy.
Sriskandarajah noted the need to target ODA where it is needed and supporting strong public health systems. He advocated against UK ODA being used as a foreign and trade policy instrument and also advocated against the practice of counting in-donor refugee costs as ODA.
Sriskandarajah also called on the Labour Party to stop addressing development, climate, and migration as separate policy areas rather than interlocking issues. He recommended that Labour should work to dismantle vested interests blocking efforts to cut emissions, invest in helping refugees, and find innovative ways of raising funding to tackle big climate issues, including through fair-share pollution taxes and increased wealth taxes.
Sriskandarajah also called on the Labour Party to show leadership on debt relief for poor countries by enforcing private creditor responsibility through changes to UK law, supporting a new convention on tax to reduce tax avoidance, and responding constructively to growing calls for reparations by forging partnerships based on the pursuit of equitable development and racial justice.
December 4, 2023 | US, UK, Norway, Climate | Share this update
On December 4, 2023, during COP28, the US announced it would invest in a new public-private partnership to create a new privately-run climate guarantee company known as the Green Guarantee Company.
The Green Guarantee Company will be the first private company created to mobilize green bonds and loans in countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The US, through USAID, the US State Department, and Prosper Africa, is joining the UK, the Green Climate Fund, Norfund, and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority to contribute US$100 million to the initial balance sheet of the Green Guarantee Company.
Experts estimated that the initial contribution will allow the Green Guarantee Company to raise US$1 billion in new climate finance capital by 2024. The US contribution is US$10 million. The Green Guarantee Company is slated to use its finances to de-risk private capital towards climate solutions.
US$ amounts are cited directly from sources; in the absence of an official conversion, they are calculated using the previous week's average of the US Federal Reserve's daily exchange rates.
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