Dr. Élia António de Araújo dos Reis Amaral, Health Minister
Officials from Ministries of Health, Finance, and Environment from member states,
WHO Representative to Timor-Leste, Dr Arvind Mathur
Representatives from ADB, FCDO, World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, Save the Children, UNDP, academic institutes and other partner agencies
Colleagues and friends
A very good morning to you all.
Welcome to this meeting on accessing climate finance for health in the South-East Asia Region in the beautiful city of Dilli.
The urgency of these discussions cannot be overstated. We know that climate change is the defining challenge of our time. We know it has far-reaching implications for public health, particularly in Low and Lower Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). We know that the financing required to address these challenges remains woefully inadequate.
The 2021 WHO Health and Climate Change Survey Report revealed that over 70% of all countries cite insufficient finance as a major barrier to implementing their national health and climate change strategies. This challenge is particularly severe in our South-East Asia region, where most countries are LMICs and highly vulnerable to climate-related health risks and shocks.
The commitment of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to mobilise funds for adaptation and mitigation efforts in developing countries is unfulfilled. The funding commitments made for climate action in developing countries, and to fill the funding gap for climate and health activities, fall significantly short of what is actually needed. I should also point out that these inadequate commitments are also vastly outweighed by the subsidies and financing driving fossil fuel consumption.
Health ministries continue to face multiple barriers in accessing climate finance. These include a lack of awareness of financing opportunities, limited capacity to prepare proposals, and weak coordination with key climate and finance actors. Constrained domestic health budgets in countries further exacerbate these challenges. This highlights the critical need for increased investments to build climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems, ensuring that the health sector plays a central role in achieving the Paris Agreement and the SDGs.
In our WHO South-East Asia Region, eight countries have already committed to building climate-resilient and low-carbon sustainable health systems under the COP26 Health Programme. Also, many countries in our region are actively working on developing proposals for submission to UNFCCC funding mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund.
However, several challenges hinder progress. To address these challenges, we must work together - governments, development partners, financial institutions, and the private sector. This requires enhancing technical capacity within health ministries, fostering stronger coordination with finance ministries, and ensuring high-level political buy-in. Innovative financing mechanisms and multi-stakeholder collaborations will be crucial in making climate and health investments more sustainable and impactful.
As you know, ATACH is a WHO-hosted platform, and is an important catalyst in this effort. A key outcome of ATACH’s work includes both helping countries and partners access available funding through established instruments and supporting the establishment of new routes to financing climate and health interventions.
SEARO is committed to advancing these efforts by convening and leading this ATACH meeting. We aim to attract the engagement of key financial institutions and partners, while providing support to countries in accessing the resources required to translate their plans into action.
WHO has been actively collaborating with partners to mobilize financing for health and climate resilience. Over the years, several global and regional initiatives have strengthened these efforts, At the regional level this included the Malé Declaration in 2017, the Regional framework for action in building health systems resilience to climate change (2017-2030), and regional trainings on accessing financing through the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund.
Since 2018, international financing through entities such as GEF, the UK’s FCDO, Australia’s DFAT, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has supported climate and health initiatives in Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, and Bhutan. However, these funding streams have either come to an end or are limited. We must identify more options to continue and expand this crucial work.
At the global level, currently, WHO and UNDP are developing a GCF project proposal titled: “Climate and Health Co-Investment Facility Coordination Programme,” with participation from five countries in our region - Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The Programme will support the design, operation and coordination of a multi-partner co-investment facility to promote climate resilient, low-carbon investments by leveraging public and private capital.
Moving forward, we must leverage regional collaboration to ensure that climate financing mechanisms align with country needs and realities. This meeting is a valuable opportunity for countries to engage directly with representatives, learn from successful case studies, and streamline proposal submission processes.
This meeting also holds significance for shaping discussions at COP30, where climate financing for health will be a critical agenda item. We must ensure that our region’s priorities and challenges are well-represented in these global negotiations.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
I urge and encourage all stakeholders at this meeting to engage actively, share insights, and collaborate. We must identify practical solutions to unlock climate finance for health.
Let us seize this opportunity to ensure that climate action in the health sector receives the financial support it urgently needs.
I express my sincere appreciation to the Government of Timor-Leste for hosting this meeting, and for the excellent progress made toward building climate-resilient and low-carbon sustainable health systems.
I thank you and wish you a happy stay in Dili, and successful deliberations.
Thank you.