Dr. Maheshwor Dhakal, Chief of the Climate Change Unit under the Ministry of Forest and Environment, said that Nepal has received its second largest grant of USD 27.4 million under the Green Climate Fund to address the climate change issue in the country reports The Rising Nepal.

He said that the Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved the project entitled “Improving Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Communities and Ecosystems in the Gandaki River Basin, Nepal” and decided to provide the funding in the 26th board meeting on 19 August 2020.

According to the daily, the funding will address climate-resilient issues in Nepal. The GCF is an international fund established to help developing countries cope with the impacts of climate change.

Dr. Dhakal said that it was a big grant where basic project activities needed to focus on climate-resilient initiatives in Gandaki River Basin. He said that the seven-year project, which mainly focuses on agro-forestry, aims to establish field schools to teach farmers sustainable agriculture practices and to train local people in agro-forestry techniques, Dr. Dhakal said.

Dr. Dhakal said the funding would focus on climate change, adaptation, forest, and water and agriculture sectors. The programme will be implemented in 19 districts of State 3, Gandaki and 5.

Dr. Prahlad Thapa, country representative of IUCN, said that the project mainly focused on landslides, river cutting, recharge of water resources and low land indentation.

He also appealed to all three levels of government, major stakeholders and private agencies for close coordination, working on drought and flood-tolerant methods to help the government to meet the set targets for the grant.

This project targets 19 districts from Province No 3, 5 and Gandaki Province, which mainly focuses on three thematic areas such as ecosystem, climate vulnerability and climate governance, he said.

The project is approved under the Least Developed Countries of the South Asia region and needs to be completed within seven years, Dr. Thapa informed.

The GCF was established as part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The GCF agreed in November to provide $39.3 million out of an estimated $47.3 million required for a project aimed at increasing the capacity of the people of Nepal’s Chure region to cope with and recover from shocks and stresses caused by climate change, Thapa said.