Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 7 November 2022 – Acting Director General Global Practice and Partnerships of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Amir Bukivic, has underlined the need to invest heavily in strengthening the countries’ early warning systems and risk estimation and identification capabilities to effectively respond to the relevant challenges.  

Mr. Amir made the remarks at the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Roundtable at COP27 on: “Launching early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan”. 

He said that IsDB welcomes the Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan and looks forward to collaborating with all stakeholders to make global coverage of early warning systems a reliable adaptation solution.

During the event, attended by UN secretary General Antonio Guterres, and Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, Mr. Amir elaborated on how the Bank has been supporting its member countries in boosting their national early warning systems, disaster preparedness, and management policies.

“We are proud that over the last five years, an average of 55% of IsDB's total commitments to climate action have been dedicated to climate adaptation. This is understandable, given that many of our 57 member countries are routinely estimated to be one of the world's most vulnerable to climate impacts,” Mr. Amir asserted.

He then explained that IsDB is committed to significantly increase its climate finance project volume in all its operations and development interventions to reach the target of 35% by 2025. “The good news is that our current climate finance accounts for 31% of financing. Moreover, we also aim to be fully Paris-aligned by the end of next year,” the Acting Director General stated.

Elsewhere in his remarks. Mr. Amir noted that in order to build long-term resilience and security of food systems in its member countries, the Bank has approved an ambitious US$20.54 billion Food Security Response Program (FSRP) that entails immediate to short-term and medium-to-long-term actions with a comprehensive set of essential financing and non-financing products.  

“IsDB is currently developing a program on the cassava value chain in seven West African countries, where it is one of the main staple foods. The program aims, among other things, to increase the yield and productivity of cassava. Early warning systems and climate information will reinforce the program at national and regional levels. The Bank is also introducing innovative financing mechanisms to reduce disaster risk in the member countries by building on its expertise in Islamic finance to develop innovative Islamic-compliant takaful products for disaster risk financing,” Mr. Amir explained.

The Islamic Development Bank is a founding member of the Alliance for Hydromet Development. More recently, the Bank has become an implementing partner of the Systematic Observations Financing Facility, an innovative mechanism led by the world meteorological organization, a mechanism that will help reduce the gaps in the Global Basic Observing Network.