LILONGWE, 28 April 2025 – Due to climate change, Malawi is experiencing increasing frequency and intensity of droughts, pest attacks, and tropical cyclones, leading to floods. Droughts cause an average annual loss of at least 1% of GDP, particularly in the central and southern regions. River flooding poses a serious risk to infrastructure and agriculture and affects approximately 60,000 to 100,000 people annually.
The G7 together with the V20 launched the Global Shield against Climate Risks at COP27 in 2022. This commitment echoes the needs of the most climate-vulnerable countries, which have been demanding further action and support to respond to losses and damages. Malawi is among the Global Shield Countries, with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs leading the process.
By increasing and improving access to pre-arranged finance, the Global Shield supports countries in effectively responding to climate-related risks and better financially protecting vulnerable communities. The support provided by the initiative is not a stand-alone solution. It will go hand in hand with other efforts to increase Malawi’s resilience to climate change, such as the Disaster Risk Finance (DRF) strategy preparations that the government is currently undertaking.
The Global Shield process is country-led and demand-driven with interactive multi-stakeholder consultations that already took place in Malawi since January 2025. With this workshop, stakeholders together with Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs are collecting important feedback and input for the thorough gap analysis and themes that the government can address in its Request for Support to the Global Shield. Depending on the gaps identified and the themes that will be developed during this workshop, the Global Shield can support with a wide range of financial instruments and technical support at household, community and national level.
As Malawi already benefits from an extensive adaptive social protection programme, participants will discuss how the current approaches can be leveraged and potentially scaled up through Global Shield support in order to better provide assistance for those most affected by shocks.
About the Global Shield against Climate Risks:
Launched at COP27 by the V20 Group of Finance Ministers and the G7, the Global Shield against Climate Risks aims to increase protection for climate-vulnerable economies and communities by providing and facilitating substantially more and better pre-arranged and trigger-based finance against disasters and climate risks. Greater financial protection and faster and more reliable disaster preparedness and response will contribute to effectively responding to losses and damages from climate change.
PRESS CONTACT
Global Shield Secretariat: secretariat@globalshield.org