The Adaptation Fund is an international fund that finances projects and programs aimed at helping developing countries to adapt to the harmful effects of climate change.
It is set up under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Adaptation Fund was officially launched in 2007, although it was established in 2001 at the 7th Conference of the Parties (COP7) to the UNFCCC in Marrakech, Morocco to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes that reduce the adverse effects of climate change facing communities, countries, and sectors.
It is intended to finance climate adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
The World Bank serves as the trustee of the Adaptation Fund.
The AFB is composed of 16 members and 16 alternates representing Annex I countries, Non-Annex I countries, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDSs), and regional constituencies.
The AFB meets three times per year in Bonn, Germany.
One unique feature of the Adaptation Fund is its direct access mechanism, which enables accredited national implementing entities (NIEs) and regional implementing agencies (RIEs) in developing countries to directly access climate adaptation financing.
