The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has established a second regional collaboration centre in Africa to assist under-represented regions to realise the benefits of the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM) projects.

UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres and East African Development Bank (EADB) director-general Vivienne Yeda have signed a partnership agreement to set up a centre in Kampala, Uganda, to facilitate governments’, nongovernmental organisations’ and the private sector’s development of CDM projects in the region.

The new centre, which was expected to open on May 1, aimed to build CDM capacity and attractiveness, while reducing the risk for investors undertaking CDM projects, said Figueres.

The UNFCCC CDM centres aimed to support the identification of CDM projects, provide assistance for the design of projects, deal with issues identified by validators, offer opportunities to reduce transaction costs, enhance capacity-building and provide hands-on support for those developing CDM projects.

The regional office would support projects emerging from South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Libya, Tanzania, Botswana, Rwanda, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Namibia, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Angola, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles, Swaziland, Comoros, Egypt, Lesotho and Sudan.

In October, the UNFCCC and the Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement established the first centre in Lomé, Togo, to support CDM projects in Francophone Africa.

The EADB was expected to provide personnel, as well as administrative and logistical support.

The UNFCCC previously commented that the secretariat was expected to enter into further partnership agreements with several regional partners to establish support offices in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Francophone Africa.