MOGADISHU, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations-backed Green Climate Fund (GCF), believed to be the world's largest multilateral climate fund, has committed 100 million U.S. dollars for a climate action investment program in Somalia over the next year.

The funds, announced Tuesday in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, during a visit by Mafalda Duarte, GCF executive director who led the first-ever GCF delegation to Somalia, will help bolster the country's climate resilience efforts, according to a statement issued in the Somali capital Tuesday evening.

Duarte said Somalia is the second most vulnerable country to climate change in the world, despite contributing only 0.03 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, the statement said.

"The interlinked impact of climate change and lack of security has had a devastating effect on people, causing some 43,000 excess deaths in 2022 due to drought, displacing more than 6 million people, pushing Somalis away from their homes into overcrowded towns and cities," Duarte was quoted as saying in the statement.

Recurrent drought and regular flooding lead to failed crops, loss of livestock and chronic food insecurity problems in Somalia, she said. "GCF is committed to working with the government of Somalia and its partners to better address the extreme vulnerability the country and its population face," Duarte said.

Duarte said the GCF is ready to commit to a strategy of investments and readiness support of over 100 million dollars to Somalia by mid-2025, as well as a long-term commitment to empower Somalia to develop country-priority projects and subsequent investments.

While in Somalia, Duarte met with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and other senior government officials, and launched an investment pipeline including a project that will provide affordable, reliable off-grid energy access to unelectrified populations in sub-Saharan Africa.

The program prioritizes capital investment and technical support in Somalia, accelerating disbursements of over 3 million dollars for 2024-2025, with funding from the GCF and other funders, the statement said. Enditem

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