USAID announces new partnership to boost climate resilience in the developing world

On Tuesday 9 June, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the launch of a new public-private partnership, Climate Services for Resilient Development. The partnership aims to develop new tools, services, and approaches that bridge technology and organizational gaps in order to strengthen climate resilience to populations around the world. USAID has committed $10 million towards the partnership, with the total financial and in-kind contributions at $34 million by the founding-partners institutions: USAID (leveraging NOAA, NASA, and other U.S. agencies), UK Government (Department for International Development, and UK Met Office), Inter-American Development Bank ,Asian Development Bank, Esri, Google, American Red Cross, and Skoll Global Threats Fund.

Through the end of 2016, the partnership will deliver tailored and targeted services to three sub-regions in the Andean region of South America, Eastern Africa, and South Asia - with Colombia, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh serving as pilot countries. Thereafter, the partnership aims to expand to a second phase of activity in three more sub-regions (the Sahel region of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean) and build on lessons learned and replicable tools and services.

"Climate resilient development is central to USAID's mission of ending extreme poverty and to promoting global resilience," USAID Global Climate Change Coordinator Kit Batten said. "Climate change threatens our entire planet and USAID is proud to build on our existing climate change adaptation work and launch this new partnership with leading organizations and governments across the world."

Climate Services for Resilient Development is the first step of an effort that President Obama announced at the United Nations Climate Summit in September 2014. Through consultations with a broad array of experts, governments, multilateral organizations, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations, USAID was able to unite a diverse group of motivated and capable partners around a singular mission.