ACDI SEMINAR SERIES: Climate finance in Africa: Challenges and responses


Where: Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Studio 5, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town.

Time: 1- 2pm

When: Wednesday , 5 February 2014


Speaker: Maliza Van Eeden, CDKN. 

It is clear that significant investment is required to mitigate climate change and help countries adapt to a changing climate. Developing countries, in particular, are at great risk of having hard-won development gains eroded through current and future climate change impacts and are keen to capitalise on climate finance flows from industrialised nations to the developing world. Developing countries are, however, facing considerable challenges in planning their response to climate change and coordinating the proliferation of climate finance sources. In this seminar I will discuss the current status of climate finance globally. I will distinguish between the different forms of available climate finance (public versus private, international versus domestic) and talk about the challenges faced by developing countries, particularly in Africa, in accessing and applying climate finance. As a development practitioner with the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), I will use two examples from CDKN's work - in Rwanda and Uganda - to illustrate how African countries are supported in their efforts towards "climate finance-readiness.


Maliza provides programme management and oversight of CDKN's technical assistance work in Africa. Her current portfolio includes climate compatible development projects in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia. Before joining CDKN, Maliza worked for the United Nations Environment Programme, where her focus area was natural resources management in post-conflict and disaster-affected countries. She has a particular interest in climate change adaptation and ecosystems-based approaches to disaster risk reduction. Maliza is a qualified lawyer and holds a Masters in Environmental Science & Law from the University of Sydney.