Kathmandu, November 13
The Green Climate Fund has announced a grant of $39.3 million for a project in Nepal that aims at strengthening the resilience of the Churia region. The global fund, created to support the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change, on Wednesday announced that the fund’s board meeting provided its approval to fund the project.
This is the first time the fund, set up by 194 countries who are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010, as part of the Convention’s financial mechanism decided to fund a project in Nepal.
The Ministry of Forests and Environment will implement the Building a Resilient Churia Region in Nepal project in cooperation for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The total cost of the project is Rs 47.3 million and the government of Nepal is expected to cover the rest (17 percent) of the cost.
As part of the project, which focuses on 26 river systems in eastern and central Nepal, farmer field schools are to be set up and agro-forestry training provided to local people. Similarly, local schools and media are to be mobilised for sustainable natural resource management. Construction of check dams, implementation of gully stabilisation measures and establishment of multi-purpose tree nurseries have also been included in the project, which is to go on for seven years and benefit 3.21 million people.
Programs aimed at institutional capacity building, improving knowledge, awareness and local capacity for climate resilient sustainable natural resource management have also been included.
