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).

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.