The Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing country Parties to the Kyoto Protocol that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

The Adaptation Fund is financed from the share of proceeds on the clean development mechanism project activities and other sources of funding.  The share of proceeds amounts to 2% of certified emission reductions (CERs) issued for a CDM project activity.

The Adaptation Fund is supervised and managed by the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB).  The AFB is composed of 16 members and 16 alternates and meets at least twice a year ( Membership as of  September 2009 (134 kB) ). 

Upon invitation from Parties, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) provides secretariat services to the AFB and the World Bank serves as trustee of the Adaptation Fund on an interim basis. These interim institutional arrangements will be reviewed in 2011.   

Parties, at CMP 3, decided to undertake at its sixth session (November 2010), a review of all matters relating to the Adaptation Fund with a view to ensuring its effectiveness and adequacy, including in relation to its institutional arrangements. The review will take into account the outcome of performance reviews of the secretariat and the trustee servicing the Adaptation Fund, submissions by Parties and other interested intergovernmental organizations and stakeholders.  In this regard, the SBI, at its thirtieth session, recommended a draft decision to CMP 5 requesting the SBI to initiate the review of the Adaptation Fund and to agree on the terms of reference for the review at its thirty-second session. It also invited Parties to submit to the secretariat their views and recommendations on the possible terms of reference for this this review by 22 March 2010.

Updated  19 January 2010