Government has received a 2.1 million US dollars grant from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for the development of a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) for climate resilience.
In a press statement made available to the Lusaka Star, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources Permanent Secretary, Ndashe Yumba said the grant will enable the government to formulate a medium to long-term climate adaptation plan, which will strengthen systems for integrating climate change adaptation into development planning and budget processes.
The funding is great news for the country as it comes at a time when the country is experiencing unpreceded climate risks with droughts having recently devastated parts of the country, while most recently floods destroyed roads, bridges and other public infrastructure amidst the unprecedented global Covid-19 crisis,
Mr. Yumba said.
He said the NAP will also facilitate the development of prioritized adaptation actions with financing strategies adding that this will enable Zambia to systematically advance the implementation of priority adaptation actions, contributing to the National Determined Contribution (NDC) under the 7th National Development Plan (7NDP).
“Zambia’s NAP process which will be coordinated by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources will be implemented in two phases. The first first phase will focus on developing the overarching NAP while a water sector NAP will be developed in phase two,” Mr. Yumba explained.
Mr. Yumba added that the project will be implemented through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources with Global Water Partnership (GWP) of South Africa as a delivery partner which will provide technical support to the Zambian government.
“GWP was equally instrumental during the proposal stage and contributed immensely to ensuring that Zambia secures this support,” he said.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources Permanent Secretary expressed gratitude towards the gesture made by the GCF.