UNDP Climate Risk Finance project in collaboration with the Higher Council for Environment & Natural Resources (HCENR) organized a knowledge sharing workshop  marking the launch of the pastoralists weather Insurance document, on 15 -16 October 2019.

The workshop was attended by the Minister of Agriculture M. Eissa Osman Sherif and Undersecretary of the Ministry of Animal Resources Dr. Mahmoud Shiek Al-Din.

In his welcoming remarks, Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources Mr. Eissa Osman Sherif underscored the huge impact of the Climate Risk Finance project on communities across Sudan “We extremely value UNDP’s role in responding to the adverse effects of climate change and its impact on both farmers and pastoralists. In order to combat the impacts of climate change we need to join hands and today’s event shows us clearly how partnerships work best in the fight against climate change which is affecting all of us.”

Furthermore, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Animal Resources Dr. Mahmoud Shiek Al-Din stated “In Sudan we are facing complex challenges with regards to the environment; intermittent rainfall affecting grazing and other agricultural schemes. We are also struggling with other challenges such as unemployment, conflict due to limited resources, displacement of large number of IDPs from the southern border, excessive cutting of trees and pollution, etc. We look forward for more economic revival of rural areas in order to build the resilience of our people.”

For his part ,  UNDP Resident Representative  Dr. Selva Ramachandran  stated that “ This project has a unique feature as it equally targets farmers and pastoralists and hence  brings a lot of peace dividends and will considerably promote the national productive sectors in Sudan. The project invests in linking Weather Index Insurance to Microfinance, as one of the innovative financial mechanism to incentivize investments in climate change adaptation and risk reduction measures. We have to acknowledge that Sudan is being one of the few countries in Africa which is implementing this type of projects and the focus of LDCF and donor communities on the outcome of the experience in Sudan is very high, therefore, the success of this project in achieving its outputs, will avail the opportunity to engage both the public and private insurance sectors to serve as important catalysts in supporting the sustainable development in Sudan.”

The Climate Risk Finance for Sustainable and Climate Resilient Rain-fed Farming and pastoral systems project aims to create an enabling environment for climate risk management of smallholder farmers and pastoralists in rain-fed areas. With substantial support from the least Developed Countries Fund, the project supports the development of a range of financial mechanisms in six climate affected agro-ecological regions of Sudan through this project.

This UNDP and LDCF -supported project, Climate Risk Finance for Sustainable and Climate Resilient Rain-fed Farming and Pastoral Systems in Sudan, aims to create an enabling environment for climate risk management of smallholder farmers and pastoralists in rain-fed areas. This includes an effective climate observation infrastructure to enable climate change resilient decision-making in local communities. At the same time, the project creates a regulatory framework to develop and deliver micro credit and climate risk insurance services.