Least Developed Countries Fund

The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) was established in response to guidance received from the Seventh Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC meeting in Marrakech in 2001. The fund is designed to meet the special needs of the LDCs under the Climate Convention. Top priority was given to adaptation, in particular to financing the preparation and the implementation of National Adaptation programs of Action (NAPAs).

The LDCF therefore aims support projects addressing the urgent and immediate adaptation needs of the LDCs, focusing on reducing the vulnerability of those sectors and resources that are central to human and national development, such as water, agriculture, and food security; health; disaster risk management and prevention; and infrastructure, as identified and prioritized in their National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs).

Special Climate Change Fund

The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) was established under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2001 to finance activities, programs, and measures relating to climate change that are complementary to those funded by the resources allocated to the Climate Change Focal Area of the GEF and by bilateral and multilateral funding.

The SCCF has four different windows:

• Adaptation
• Transfer of technologies
• Energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry, and waste management
• Activities to assist developing countries whose economies are highly dependent on income generated from the production, processing, and export or on consumption of fossil fuels and associated energy-intensive products in diversifying their economies.

The Parties to the Climate Convention identified adaptation to climate change as the top priority of the SCCF. The SCCF serves as a catalyst to leverage additional resources from bilateral and other multilateral sources.

For more information refer also to the following document on the LDCF/SCCF funds.

Strategic Priority on Adaptation (SPA)

In response to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2001, the GEF established the Strategic Priority on Adaptation (SPA), a US$50 million allocation inside of the GEF Trust Fund, to support pilot and demonstration projects that show how adaptation planning and assessment can be practically translated into projects that provide real benefits and can be integrated into national policy and sustainable development planning. The SPA funding was accessible to all countries eligible for GEF funding.
The SPA was a groundbreaking initiative not only within the GEF context but also worldwide, because until that time the adaptation-related work of multilateral and bilateral organizations had mainly focused on financing research, assessments, and screening tools, rather than on-the-ground interventions.

By September 2009, all the SPA funding has been allocated, and the GEF Evaluation Office is preparing a SPA evaluation. For the GEF-5 in 2010–14, all adaptation-related work of the GEF will be financed through the LDCF and SCCF.