Yesterday, in the SBI, Parties presented their opening statements on the operationalisation of the Adaptation Fund (AF), a vital instrument that can significantly assist developing countries reduce their vulnerabilities to impacts of climate change. Led largely by the G77 and China, the Least Developed Countries group and AOSIS, the statements were a display of good faith and goodwill. ECO hopes this spirit will be sustained to ensure the prompt start of the AF before 2008.

Delegates involved in the final negotiations at the SBI meeting on governance of the AF last May in Bonn expressed serious concerns on the possibility discussions could get deadlocked. ECO therefore was pleased to note that Parties, instead of wading once more into an unhelpful impasse limited to the matter of designating an entity to which the operation of the AF would be entrusted, demonstrated positive determination to prioritise issues crucial to the urgently needed operationalisation of the AF, such as governance, structure and modalities.

The AF is of paramount importance to vulnerable developing countries. Its operationalisation is within reach if Parties sustain the constructive engagement conveyed in yesterday’s SBI.