Green Climate Fund approves 250 mln USD for ADB Glacial Melt Adaptation Program

MANILA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Green Climate Fund (GCF) on Wednesday approved 250 million U.S. dollars for Glaciers to Farms - a flagship adaptation program led by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to build resilient water and agriculture systems for vulnerable communities in glacier-dependent regions of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and Pakistan, the multilateral development bank said.

According to the ADB, GCF's funding will be provided mostly as grants and invested alongside 3.25 billion dollars from the ADB over the next decade in a series of projects identified by the countries covered by the program.

By investing in efficient irrigation, water storage, and watershed management, the ADB said the projects will help improve agricultural productivity even as accelerated glacial melt increases the frequency of droughts or floods.

The program will focus on four glacier-fed river basins - the Naryn and Pyanj in Central Asia, the Kura in the South Caucasus, and the Swat in Pakistan-covering roughly 27 million hectares.

About 13 million people, including farmers and vulnerable populations in fragile mountain regions, will benefit directly from the program. It will support climate and glacier assessments that will inform national development plans and investment pipelines. Enditem