INCHEON, Republic of Korea, 27 March 2024: The world’s largest dedicated climate fund, Green Climate Fund (GCF), announced that the first single-country project in the Cook Islands took 20 days from GCF Board approval to the first disbursement of funding. Making the announcement through a Press release, GCF said, the USD 13.4 million project, of which USD 12.5 million is funded by the GCF, focusses on improving health outcomes for all Cook Islanders and was developed by the government, with support from GCF.

GCF said with higher temperatures, increasing the spread of disease-causing pathogens and many infectious diseases, this project will bolster the climate resilience of national health systems across the 15 islands. GCF said that the Cook Islands face a triple health challenge, namely, communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, and other health impacts due to climate change – resulting in high rates of malnutrition, sickness, and death. Furthermore, GCF said, climate-related disasters are further disrupting national healthcare services and disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups across the country. This project, GCF said, targets the most vulnerable, including people who are chronically ill, pregnant women and those living on the remote outer islands who struggle to access healthcare services.

GCF said, “Akamatutu’anga To Tatou Ora’anga Meitaki (ATOM): Building a healthy and resilient Cook Islands community – one block at a time” will enhance the national health system and climate resilience of health services. It will support approximately 30 communities and 22 health facilities or emergency centres in 12 of the 15 inhabited islands, including the 11 outer Pa Enua islands, and the main island of Rarotonga, the organisation further said. 

Mafalda Duarte,Executive Director, GCF said: “Providing support for Small Island Developing States to adapt to climate change is a key priority for GCF. I am delighted that we have been able to rapidly transfer the first tranche of funding to this project in 20 days, a record for GCF. This demonstrates GCF is delivering faster climate action and setting new benchmarks. There are several firsts for this project – it is the first project solely targeting climate and health in the Pacific region, and it is the first single-country project to be rolled out by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management for the Cook Islands. It is great to see a project come to fruition through a completely country-driven approach using the full suite of GCF support, such as our Readiness and Project Preparation grants. I congratulate the Prime Minister, Mark Brown, his team, and all Cook Islanders for this accomplishment.”

Garth Henderson, Financial Secretary and Head of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, Cook Islands, said: “This achievement is a testament to our unwavering dedication to climate action. Our steadfast commitments not only align seamlessly with the GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme objectives, but also embodies the GCF core principle of country ownership. This success underscores the power of collaboration and leadership within our Accredited Entity as we work closely with our local agencies to strengthen their capacity. The journey of this project has been a profound learning curve for us as a Direct Access Entity and our executing entities alike, while it took time to secure our first project, what we gained was invaluable: increased knowledge, capacity, and capability among our people. This milestone marks a significant leap forward in our collective efforts to drive meaningful climate action within our nation and beyond.”

GCF said ATOM was developed through a partnership between the Cook Islands and GCF. In addition, GCF said, through GCF’s Readiness Programme and Project Preparation Facility, the Cook Islands conducted health assessments and pre-feasibility studies to shape the project design and implementation –ensuring the project will be impactful, effective, and meet the needs of the people.

The project, GCF said, relies upon the technical expertise of the Ministry of Health Te Marae Ora and the Cook Islands Investment Corporation, as well as other partners, including the Ministry of Education, the Cook Islands Red Cross Society, and the Ministry of Agriculture. GCF also said that the project’s knowledge management component will be shared with the wider Pacific community, to build the climate resilience of health systems and services in other small islands states. Furthermore, GCF said that previously, an adaptation project in Micronesia was the fastest GCF project to be approved – from project sign-off to the first transfer of GCF funding – taking 36 days.