• July 31, 2019
• Environmental Journalism
• Web Desk

The FAO representative in Pakistan Mina Dowlatchahi on Tuesday called on chairperson Planning and Development Board Sindh Naheed Durrani to discuss final steps to operationalise the recently approved climate-resilient agriculture and water management project in Umerkot, Badin, and Shanghar districts of the province. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has provided FAO with a grant of nearly $ 35 million for this work, while the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh have committed an additional $ 8 million and $ 4.7 million, respectively, in co-financing to be managed by FAO.

The project will also be implemented in five districts of Punjab over a period of six years. It will develop Pakistan’s capacity to collect information it needs and communicate it to relevant stakeholders to cope with impacts of climate change on agriculture and water management by putting in place state-of-the art technology.

It will also build farmers’ resilience through skills, knowledge and technology of climate-resilient approaches towards agriculture and water management. Thanks to support from the Green Climate Fund and the government, the project will constitute an important step in a longer-term process of transforming agriculture and water management in both Sindh and Punjab, where changing climatic conditions will require significant alteration in practices across sectors” said FAO representative Mina Dowlatchahi.

“The project will focus on setting this transformational process in motion and equip the government, farmers and other stakeholders to continue driving this process beyond project closure, hence reducing vulnerability to climate change”, she said.

Business Recorder