World Bank to provide $188 million for climate resilience initiatives

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has agreed to join hands with Pakistan to support the latter’s disaster resilience and ecosystem restoration initiatives.

Ministry of Climate Change media focal person Muhammad Saleem said the financial assistance will provide reliable and timely weather forecasting, improved disaster risk management services as well as help tackle growing environmental challenges.

The World Bank will provide funding support for an ambitious five-year ‘Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services (PHERS)’ project which would conclude during the financial year 2024-25.

The climate change ministry official said an agreement-signing ceremony has been scheduled to be held on June 1, which would be led by the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and the World Bank’s Country Director Illango Patchamuthu.

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The official said that the project would be implemented through the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) Pakistan. The project comprises two components, namely ‘Hydro-meteorological and Climate Service’ and ‘Disaster Risk Management’.

The new ambitious project to be implemented from this year in partnership with the World Bank and various government entities is a plan of actions, which builds on eco-system restoration gained as part of the UN Decade for Eco-System Restoration (2020-2030) programme.

The project is set to act as an effective vehicle to manage risks of environmental degradation and climate change while simultaneously driving economic growth, livelihoods and poverty eradication, the official said.

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The foremost objectives of the project is facilitating transition towards environmentally resilient Pakistan by mainstreaming adaptation and mitigation through afforestation, biodiversity conservation and enhancing environment policy.

It also calls for national carbon reduction roadmap and enhancing resilience within and across forestry, agriculture, oceans and food systems, including through biodiversity conservation, leveraging supply chains and technology.  The project aims to boost climate resilience and ecosystem restoration by stemming biodiversity loss.

The climate change media focal person highlighted that Pakistan was ranked among top-ten countries by the German Watch Climate Risk Index 2019 due to negative socio-economic impacts of climate change-causing disasters and climate vulnerability.