Kathmandu, August 23

The government, United Nations Development Programme and the UK’s Department for International Development have signed an agreement to support climate-vulnerable rural municipalities in Province 5, Karnali Province and Province 7 for designing and implementing climate resilient development initiatives.

A statement jointly issued by the UNDP and DFID today read that DFID will support UNDP to implement Nepal Climate Change Support Programme in 14 selected rural municipalities of the aforementioned provinces. The £2.08 million, or approximately Rs 300 million, project (2018-19) will be implemented over the next one year, under the leadership of 14 rural municipalities.

“The project will embed climate resilience into development plans and implement close to 100 locally-identified climate-resilient development projects related to drinking water, irrigation, slope stabilisation and water conservation,” according to the statement.

A joint project of UNDP and the Ministry of Forests and Environment, NCCSP has been supporting climate-vulnerable districts to identify and execute climate-resilient development projects for a period spanning five years.

The project document was signed by Maheshwar Dhakal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Environment, and Renaud Meyer, country director of UNDP Nepal, in the presence of Bishwa Nath Oli, secretary at MoFE. A cost-sharing agreement was also signed between Rurik Marsden, head of office, DFID, and UNDP Country Director Meyer.

“The one-year project has been envisioned as a transitional initiative adapted to the new federal set-up of the country, based on learnings from the implementation of NCCSP Phase I since 2013 to 2017,” the statement quoted MoFE Secretary Oli as saying.

According to Meyer, in the context of the federal set-up, local representatives are expected to take the lead role in improving the resilience of their communities from this support.

“Climate change poses huge challenges for Nepal, especially the poor and vulnerable. The support will help the selected rural municipalities identify and deliver investments that build resilience against climate change,” the statement has quoted Marsden of DFID as saying.