PHOTO: AFP
The World Bank has agreed to join hands with Pakistan to support the country’s disaster resilience and ecosystem restoration initiatives through more reliable and timely weather forecasting, improved disaster risk management services as well as help tackle growing environmental challenges, the climate change ministry said on Sunday.
The bank has expressed its willing ness to provide funding support for the five-year $188 million ‘Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services (PHERS)’ project, said the ministry’s focal person for media Muhammad Saleem.
“The World Bank has conveyed its willingness to the government of Pakistan for providing funding support for an ambitious five-year … project, which would conclude during the financial year 2024-25,” he said.
He added that an agreement signing ceremony had been scheduled for Monday (today) at the climate change ministry, which would be led by the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan Illango Patchamuthu.
According to Saleem, the Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services project would be implemented through the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), which is a government-owned company managed by the climate change ministry.
Explaining the components and subcomponents of the project, Saleem said that the project comprised two components: ‘Hydro-meteorological and Climate Service’ and ‘Disaster Risk Management’.
The first component had been divided in four sub-components including the institutional strengthening and capacity building, modernisation of the observation infrastructure; and data management, and forecasting systems, he said.
The other sub-components included enhancement of the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) service delivery and building partnerships with the private sector; and the project management, systems integration and monitoring and implementation support of the PMD.
The second component, the ‘Disaster Risk Management’, had been divided into three sub-components: legal policy and institutional strengthening; infrastructure for resilience and the project management, monitoring, and implementation support of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), he added.
“Pakistan has gained credible and proven experience by undertaking a much wider eco-system restoration initiative by successfully implementing a world-acclaimed five-year ‘Billion-Tree Tsunami’ project in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” Saleem said.
“Now through the implementation of the upscale initiative ‘10-Billion-Tree-Tsunami Programme’ … the government aims to restore Pakistan’s green cover and protect wildlife, their habitats and conserve biodiversity ecosystems and rapidly depleting natural resources such as land and water.”
According to the ministry focal person, the new ‘Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services’ would be implemented from this year in partnership with the World Bank and various government entities.
“Besides, 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,” Saleem said.
“Investing in climate resilience initiatives for protecting socio-economic sectors, particularly water, energy and agriculture from fallouts of the climate change is vital for mitigating the country’s overall climate-vulnerability and protecting lives and livelihoods of the people,” he emphasised.
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