ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – The Green Climate Fund (GCF) during its 14th Board meeting on Wednesday, held in Republic of Korea has approved Climate Change Adaptation project for Gilgit Baltistan rubbishing Indian opposition.
According to ministry’s press release, the project will address climate change impacts and Glacial Lake Outbursts Floods (GLOF) risks by preventing loss of lives and community infrastructure based on a holistic approach in all 7 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan and 5 districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, thus, contributing to a climate-resilient sustainable development in the long-term.
India opposed the “Scaling up of GLOF risk reduction in northern Pakistan” project, focused on the Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral and other mountain areas of Pakistan, citing ‘technical’ reasons but 23 board members, who considered the project fit for approval, out rightly rejected these claims and approved the project.
India argued that its opposition to the particular project was because it was “flawed” and could lead to disastrous consequences in the region however, Pakistan rationally fought the battle and was finally given the nod by the international body for the US $37 million project.
“The approved project will impact the lives of thousands of people who are living in constant danger of periodic glacial outbursts in the Northern Pakistan” said the press-release of the ministry.
“The main project outputs are: Strengthened sub-national institutional capacities to plan and implement climate change-resilient development pathways and Community-based Early Warning System (EWS) and long-term measures are up-scaled to increase communities’ adaptive capacity,” it added.
The proposed project will benefit about 15% of the total population of Pakistan, estimated at 185 million, as of 2014, according to World Bank data.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a fund within the framework of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) founded as a mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.
