Pakistan secures USD 10m for climate solutions

Islamabad: Pakistan has secured USD 10 million in climate finance funding to enhance integrated and adaptive water resource management in the Indus River, with a particular focus on nature-based solutions, to benefit the local communities.

The funding was approved on Friday by the Adaptation Fund Board for the project called Sustainable Actions for Ecosystems Restoration in Pakistan (SAFER), according to a statement by the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

The Adaptation Fund was established in 2001 to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries which are Parties of the Kyoto Protocol that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

The project particularly focuses on interventions around the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, and targets women, children, and youth, in order to build the resilience of those communities disproportionately hit by climate-induced crises.

The project is designed to align with national plans and strategies, including Pakistan’s National Adaptation Plan and the country’s flagship Living Indus Initiative, which deploys nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation approaches to protect, conserve, and restore natural, terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems in the Basin.

SAFER, led by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, with ICIMOD serving as a regional implementing entity.

 It “will see the roll-out of key, inclusive approaches to increase integrated and adaptive water resource management in the Indus River, with a particular focus on nature-based solutions (NbS) and interventions that benefit and/or are designed to increase the participation of women, youth, and children.”

With 90 per cent of Pakistan’s people and more than three-quarters of its economy sited in the Indus Basin, climate-driven alterations to the river’s flow are set to seriously impact Pakistan’s economy and ecology, threatening hard-won gains in poverty reduction and inclusive development.

The project will be rolled out in Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh over the next three-and-a-half years and it will set up, among others, community-based early warning systems in hazard-risk zones, nature-based spring-water recharge systems in water-stressed communities and nature-based ground-water recharge facilities and climate-resilient water infrastructure.

“We’re delighted to see this project get the go-ahead which aligns perfectly with the Pakistan government’s priority to address climate challenges and strengthen resilience in the face of increasing climate-related disasters,” said Romina Khurshid Alam, Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Climate Change & Environmental Coordination.

ICIMOD is an international organisation established in 1983, that is working to make this critical region of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) greener, more inclusive and climate-resilient.

 The region stretches 3,500km across Asia, spanning eight countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.