Policy Updates

On September 5, 2024, UK Minister for Africa Lord Ray Collins announced that the UK would be making a GBP25 million (US$30 million) investment in the African agri-sector to boost production and strengthen food security in the face of climate threats.

The minister announced the funding during his keynote speech at the AFSF in Rwanda. The funding will be allocated to AgDevCo, a UK-based African agribusiness investor. The funds will go towards its new US$50 million facility called AgDevCo Ventures. The new facility will focus on supporting small African agricultural enterprises, emphasizing African-owned and managed businesses.

The funding is expected to result in an increase in income of GBP128 million (US$153 million) for recipients by 2036.

On September 6, 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy hosted a reception marking 75 years of the modern Commonwealth and called for the organization to focus on driving economic growth as well as tackling the climate crisis and education at its October Summit in Samoa.

Lammy noted that the UK considers a revived Commonwealth as vital to ensuring the government’s vision of reconnecting Britain with the world, calling on the family of nations to work together, draw on its diversity, and tackle the challenges of our time.

Lammy outlined that the Commonwealth should focus its attention on three key areas:

• Supporting economic growth: the combined GDP growth of the Commonwealth’s nations is expected to double from 2017 levels by 2027, and increasing investment flows are needed to take advantage of this. At the summit in Samoa, Lammy and other members will launch a comprehensive plan to boost investment and harness technology for all to enable shared and sustainable growth;
• Tackling the climate emergency: Lammy highlighted the need for coordinated action with partner countries to ensure a sustainable future for all. He emphasized the need to raise ambitions on the Climate Finance Access Hub and to do more to protect Small Island Developing States; and
• Boosting education: Lammy noted the importance of focusing on education. He emphasized the need to support more scholarships and learning amongst the Commonwealth nations, highlighting that 60% of the Commonwealth’s population are under 30 years old.

On September 4, 2024, Canada’s IDRC launched a call for participants to the Global Forum on Humanitarian Health Research taking place in-person in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2025.

The forum will bring together researchers from settings affected by humanitarian crises, especially low- and middle-income countries, under the theme of Health Research at the Nexus of Humanitarian Crises and Climate Change.

Applications are due on October 7, 2024.

On August 30, 2024, the 53^rd Pacific Islands Forum leader's meeting, held in Tonga, announced that the PRF would have its headquarters in Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga.

The PRF is a disaster and climate resilience financing entity owned and led by Pacific countries and plans to commence business in 2026.

Australia has contributed AUD100 million (US$67 million) and is the main donor so far to the facility, which has raised US$137 million. Saudi Arabia, the US, China, and Japan have also committed funds.
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On August 27, 2024, Australia committed US$100 million to a Pacific Resilience Fund, which has a goal of raising a total of US$500 million by 2026.

Australian Minister for International Development and Pacific Pat Conroy stated that the UN should encourage contributions to the resilience fund by other countries, as only US$116 million has been pledged so far.

A report by the World Meteorological Organization in Tonga released on August 27, 2024, demonstrated that sea level rises are accelerating. Apia, Samoa’s capital, recorded a rise of 31 centimeters over 30 years and was projected to increase by a further 23 centimeters by 2050. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Pacific islands were uniquely exposed, with an average elevation of just one to two meters above sea level. Half of the infrastructure in these countries is within 500 meters of the sea.

Australian sea level rises were much lower, with Sydney’s sea level rising by 9 centimeters in the 30 years leading up to 2020.

On August 26, 2024, the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University announced its 2024 Australasian Aid Conference, to be held from December 3 to 5, 2024, at the Crawford School of Public Policy in Canberra, focusing on a range of sectors and aims to support development within the research community and promoting collaboration.

The conference is Australia’s largest annual meeting on international development and normally attracts some 600 participants, including researchers from the Pacific, Asia, and Australia.

The Development Policy Centre also planned to host a 2024 Pacific Migration Workshop on September 3, 2024. The workshop will focus on climate resilience and mobility, as well as the economic dimensions and social implications of migration.

Submissions are open until August 30, 2024, to propose possible panel events and papers.

On August 19, 2024, the Norwegian government launched its new strategy for engagement on the African continent.

Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide noted that Norway's relationship with many African countries covers a wide range of interests, such as security policy, multilateral issues, cooperation on solving global challenges, and economic cooperation. The aim is to strengthen political and economic cooperation through partnerships based on equality, mutual interests, knowledge, and understanding.

The government outlined five specific areas of focus in the strategy:

• Multilateral and regional cooperation: Strengthen cooperation in multilateral forums, enhance African representation, and continue close collaboration with the AU;
• Security and peace efforts: Support African-led peace initiatives, integrate gender perspectives in decision-making, and bolster cooperation with the AU and UN on security;
• Democracy, human rights, and gender equality: Promote democracy, human rights, and gender equality through civil society engagement, justice reform, and educational access;
• Business, clean energy, and knowledge: Boost economic cooperation, promote Norwegian solutions, and support renewable energy development in African markets; and
• Climate, environment, food security, and health: Collaborate on climate action, sustainable food systems, and resilient health systems to address environmental and health challenges.

On July 18, 2024, PALM10 took place, co-chaired by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, with leaders and representatives from 19 countries and regions, including Japan, 14 Pacific Island countries, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand.

The meeting focused on seven main topics aligned with the Pacific Islands Forum’s 2050 Strategy, which entailed:

• Political leadership and regionalism;
• People-centered development;
• Peace and security;
• Resources and economic development;
• Climate change and disasterss;
• Ocean and environment; and
• Technology and connectivity.

The leaders discussed regional and international affairs, reaffirming the Japan-Pacific partnership and adopting the PALM10 Leaders’ Declaration and Joint Action Plan.

Key sessions included:

• Opening Session: Kishida emphasized Japan's commitment to elevate relations and support the region's unity under the 2050 Strategy;
• Session 1: Focused on development cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. Japan surpassed its previous commitment, developing human resources for 7,500 people. Discussions included the safety of ALPS treated water discharge;
• Session 2: Addressed climate change and disaster resilience. Kishida announced the Pacific Climate Resilience Initiative with three pillars: disaster risk reduction, promoting decarbonization, and supporting Pacific-led efforts. Efforts to combat illegal fishing and maintain a stable Pacific Ocean were also emphasized;
• Session 3: Focused on people-centered development, economic development, and technology. Japan committed to continuing support in education, health, and infrastructure development, including submarine cables;
• Working Lunch Agenda 1: Discussed international cooperation for peace and security, upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific" and addressing issues like UN Security Council reform and North Korean threats; and
• Working Lunch Agenda 2: Kishida pledged further development cooperation and people-to-people exchanges for 6,500 people through 2027.

The meeting concluded with reaffirmations of partnership and future cooperation plans, highlighting the mutual commitment to tackling regional challenges and fostering development.

On August 16, 2024, outgoing CEO of the BII Nick O’Donohoe stated that the UK’s BII and other DFIs must not be distracted from their core purpose of tackling poverty.

O’Donohoe called for the scarce finance given to BII and other DFIs to not all be spent on combating climate change at the expense of delivering on all the SDGs. He noted that there is a tension facing many DFIs between the drive to increase spending on the green transition. The green transition involves making investments mainly in MICs in contrast to eliminating poverty and the need to deliver on the UN’s SDGs, which requires a focus on low- and lower-middle-income countries.

In the UK, O’Donohoe noted that the current development strategy calls on BII to make 50% of its investments in the poorest and most fragile countries while simultaneously calling for BII to be the leading DFI in climate finance. He highlighted this tension in the objectives for BII would be the biggest issue his successor will face.

On August 13, 2024, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy opened Australia’s annual parliamentary seminar by announcing an additional AUD3 million (US$2 million) for CePaCT to support the regional gene bank for the Pacific community.

Australia has funded CePaCT since 2009, which aims to achieve long-term conservation and distribution of key trees and crops in the Pacific.

Conroy emphasized Australia's continued response to the climate impact in the Pacific, including through the Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership which helped deliver renewable energy and off-grid infrastructure to improve rural livelihoods and food security in the more remote Pacific islands.

The annual seminar run by the Crawford Fund saw Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, the new managing director of CGIAR, and Dr. Yvonne Pinto, the head of the International Rice Research Institute, as keynote speakers.

Chair of the Crawford Fund, ex-Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, noted that the allocation of funds to the ACIAR, involved only 2.5% of Australian ODA. Funding for bilateral research partnerships and contributions to CGIAR both came from within that allocation.