The 26th meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board on August 19, 2020 has approved the project titled: “Improving Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Communities and Ecosystems in the Gandaki River Basin, Nepal". The total project value is USD 32.7 Million, out of which USD 27.4 Million will be financed as grant by GCF, the remainder being co-financed by domestic stakeholders.
The project is a seven-year undertaking developed to mainstream and operationalise a sustainable river-basin approach for watershed management by building climate resilience of both vulnerable communities and ecosystems in the Gandaki River Basin. It targets 19 districts in three provinces—Bagmati, Gandaki and Province 5—and will include the Annapurna and Manaslu Conservation Areas managed by NTNC. Benefitting 1.9 million people and with over 847k tonnes emissions avoided, the project is anticipated to be used as a model for showcasing how climate-resilient development in large river basins can occur successfully throughout Nepal.
Project development has been led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is a GCF-Accredited Entity, in partnership with the Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoFE) and the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC). The IUCN Headquarters, IUCN Asia Regional Office and IUCN Nepal Country Office took major lead in accessing funding and the project's overall facilitation process.
The project's three main domestic partner entities, IUCN Nepal Country Office, NTNC, and MoFE, will be co-funding the project. MoFE is an Executing Entity of this project and the Ministry of Finance is the GCF National Designated Authority.
