World Bank to provide India $8-mn grants for climate change mitigation

The World Bank is making available to India $8 million as grant assistance under the UN Fund for Sustainable Livelihoods and Adaptation to Climate Change (SLACC) project. An agreement for this was signed on Friday.

The money will be used to implement special projects to improve adaptive capacity of the rural poor engaged in farm-based livelihoods, to climate change in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Under the Sustainable Livelihoods and Adaptation to Climate Change (SLACC) programme, funds will be provided for projects that will help community institutions to take up various adaptation measures in rural areas to deal with the threat of climate change.

Community institutions will use the funds for supporting rural poor, particularly women farmers, to foster improved resilience in the production system in collaboration with government programmes such as MGNREGS.

Climatic hazards that affect the availability of natural resources, adversely affect the livelihoods of the poor by impacting production, affecting incomes and preventing building up of assets.

The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) is the implementing agency of these projects. This fund is in addition to what the government had set up last year as `National Adaptation Fund' and set aside Rs100 crore for taking up agriculture adaptation measures.

The environment ministry has, meanwhile, initiated the process of selecting agencies for implementing climate change mitigation and adaptation projects using the Green Climate Fund (GCF) - a global fund meant to assist developing countries in promoting low-emission and climate-resilient development.

Rich countries are supposed to contribute to the GCF that has a little over $10 billion. The fund targets to raise $100 billion by 2020. Developing countries are expected to identify projects that can be implemented using the fund, set up under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010.

The environment ministry had sought applications from eligible institutions for selection as National Implementing Entity (NIE) for the fund. Once the NIE is identified, it will have to be accredited by the GCF Board. India is one of the 24 members of the GCF Board.