KARACHI: The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has announced $66 million in funding to support the government of Pakistan’s efforts to reduce the twin climate impacts of flooding and drought.
The investment will improve the resilience of some of the country’s most vulnerable communities affected by the impacts of climate change, including catastrophic flooding.
The seven-year project titled Recharge Pakistan: Building Pakistan’s Resilience to Climate Change through Ecosystem-Based Adaptation for Integrated Flood Risk Management is the largest investment at the national level to date in an ecosystem-based approach to flood and water resources management.
The project — a collaboration between the ministry of climate change, the federal flood commission under the ministry of water resources and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) — will demonstrate the effectiveness of ecosystem-based adaptation and green infrastructure as an innovative addition to the nation’s traditional grey infrastructure solutions to flood and drought.
This will be achieved through restoration and reforestation of forests and wetlands; rehabilitation of water flow paths and channels; development of recharge basins and retention areas; and strengthening the climate resilience of local businesses in the agriculture and forests sectors.
In addition to the GCF funding, the project is supported through a collective $12 million investment and technical support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Coca-Cola Foundation and WWF-Pakistan.
Collectively, the project’s interventions will directly benefit over 600,000 people and will indirectly benefit close to 7,000,000 people.
“We worked very hard to convert this GCF funding from loan to grant. After the 2022 mega flood, our view was that Pakistan needs grant based climate financing, and are grateful to the GCF for accepting our advice. Rigorous design implementation involved months of consultations with all the provinces. After this stage, implementation now lies with them as the executing partners,” tweeted climate change minister Senator Sherry Rehman.
President of the WWF International Dr Adil Najam stated that initiatives like Recharge Pakistan were the need of the hour to rehabilitate the Indus basin, Pakistan’s lifeline.
“Through ecosystem-based adaptation and nature-based solutions, this collaboration will help restore the basin’s health, enhance resilience, and safeguard the most vulnerable communities. Today, we are one vital step closer to building climate resilience, protecting biodiversity, and securing a sustainable future for Pakistan.”
Director General of WWF-Pakistan, Hammad Naqi Khan added, “A focus on green infrastructure and ecosystem-based adaptation is crucial, especially for a country like Pakistan, where the impacts of climate change are manifesting with increasing frequency and severity and deepening the economic crisis. I am confident that in collaboration with our capable partners, we will deliver the impact expected from this critical and far-reaching undertaking.”
Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2023