Breaking the silos: How South-South cooperation can drive integrated climate finance for Africa’s adaptation agenda

As climate shocks ripple through the Global South with mounting intensity, the overlapping crises of food insecurity, public health, and malnutrition are becoming impossible to ignore. From erratic rainfall to prolonged droughts, extreme weather patterns are not only decimating crop yields in Africa but also straining health systems and leaving millions in hunger and poverty.

Yet climate finance, intended to help countries adapt to such environmental upheaval, remains largely siloed. It is often channeled into isolated sectors, ignoring the deeply interlinked nature of the challenges it seeks to address. That was the core message emerging from a high-level South-South Webinar on Climate Adaptation, Health, and Nutrition, hosted recently by AfriCatalyst in Dakar.

“The climate crisis is a health and nutrition crisis,” said Daouda Sembene, CEO of AfriCatalyst. “We must act now to protect vulnerable communities through integrated policies and financing.”

Interconnected Realities, Fragmented Responses

Historically, global climate finance has taken a compartmentalized approach of designing responses sector by sector. But for communities where one failed rainy season can trigger cascading crises of hunger, malnutrition, and the collapse of rural clinics, this outdated model is proving unfit for purpose.

The human cost is sobering. UN Women projects that by 2050, climate change will drive an additional 236 million women and girls into food insecurity, with 93 million more falling into poverty. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization estimates that climate-related health impacts could cause 250,000 additional deaths annually between 2030 and 2050 from heat stress, undernutrition, and diseases such as malaria and dengue.

In February, Zambia declared a national disaster after a severe drought wiped out nearly one million hectares of maize, the country’s staple food. Production plummeted by almost 50 percent, leaving more than a million households food-insecure. “In Zambia, we’ve seen how droughts devastate nutrition,” said Margaret Ngonga of CARE Zambia. “Community-led adaptation is key to building long-term resilience.”

The push for integrated adaptation finance consisting of models that connect climate resilience to human development outcomes is gaining momentum. These approaches aim to synchronize funding streams across health, agriculture, and nutrition to target multiple vulnerabilities at once.

But implementation remains challenging. Government departments often work in isolation. Policy frameworks are mostly not harmonized. International aid is typically earmarked for narrow, pre-defined outputs. And many countries lack the local data systems required for joined-up planning.

Lessons from Latin America

South-South cooperation or collaboration between countries across the Global South, offers a way forward. At the AfriCatalyst event, representatives from Latin America shared tangible innovations that could help African nations leapfrog traditional barriers.

Among them was Costa Rica’s “sustainable taxonomy,” a government-backed classification tool that defines what qualifies as an environmentally sustainable investment. Developed by the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), it provides clarity for investors, aligning portfolios with national adaptation and mitigation priorities including in agriculture, health, and nutrition.

“Costa Rica’s sustainable taxonomy proves that aligning finance with climate adaptation can drive real change,” said Kathia Aguilar of MINAE.

Such tools offer African nations a playbook complete with lessons learned and implementation frameworks. But more than imitation, these dialogues foster co-creation of regional financing instruments, such as adaptation bonds or blended finance models, customized to shared climate challenges like vector-borne diseases or food insecurity.

Planning for the Long Term

To access this kind of finance, African governments need strong policy environments, particularly in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), that embed integrated priorities. This means investing in subnational data systems, and improving cross-ministerial coordination between health, agriculture, finance, and environment agencies.

Some nations are already taking the lead. Kenya’s revised climate plan, submitted to the UNFCCC in 2020, outlines a 32 percent emissions reduction by 2030, anchored in sectors like disaster risk reduction, clean energy, and public health. The country’s adaptation strategy based on its 2015–2030 NAP is estimated to cost $38 million, part of a broader $62 billion climate plan, 87 percent of which depends on international support.

To support implementation, Kenya recently launched a new National Climate Change Action Plan (2023–2027), aligning with Vision 2030 and a revamped Climate Change Act passed in 2023.

Rethinking Finance, Building Partnerships

Ultimately, financing these ambitions demands new thinking. While public funds remain central, the private sector and regional development banks must play a more active role. Institutions like the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afrexim Bank) are already investing in climate-smart agriculture and food supply chains, but experts warn the reach remains modest.

Regional blocs, too, are stepping up. Both ECOWAS and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) offer platforms to harmonize policies and scale regional financing. South-South cooperation can facilitate the design of cross-sectoral financial products like sustainability-linked loans or performance-based grants, models that reward measurable outcomes like reduced child malnutrition or increased uptake of climate-resilient crops.

“Integrated adaptation finance works best when it reflects real-world needs,” said Daouda Sembene. “That’s why peer learning and shared innovation are so powerful.”

The Road to COP30

With COP30 fast approaching, the call for more coherent and connected climate finance is intensifying. African nations are uniquely positioned to advocate for financing models that recognize the indivisibility of health, food systems, and climate resilience.

As the AfriCatalyst webinar concluded, participants issued a joint call to action: expand knowledge exchange, promote community-led adaptation, and design inclusive financing frameworks that work across sectors and borders.

Breaking down silos, they argued, is no longer a matter of theory but of survival.

“African countries have much to gain and offer by working with their Southern peers,” said Aguilar. “Together, we can craft smarter, more responsive, and more equitable climate finance systems.”

In the face of escalating climate threats, that solidarity could make all the difference.