Surkhet – The Government of Nepal, UNDP and the UK’s Department for International Development in Nepal (DFID) have signed an agreement to support climate-vulnerable palikas in Province 5, Karnali province and province 7 to design and implement climate resilient development initiatives, according to a statement issued by UNDP.
As part of the agreement, the UK will support UNDP to implement the Nepal Climate Change Support Programme (NCCSP) in 14 selected palikas of the provinces. The £2.08 million (NP 30 Crore) project (2018-2019) will be implemented over the next one year, under the leadership of 14 palikas, statement reads.
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 stabilization and water conservation.
A joint project of UNDP and the Ministry of Forest and Environment, NCCSP has been supporting Nepal’s climate-vulnerable districts to identify and execute climate- resilient development projects for over five years.
As mandated by Nepal’s Constitution 2015, there has been a substantial devolution of functions to provincial and local governments. This has enabled them to formulate laws to engage development planning and implementation, including climate change adaptation. However, operational systems to run the local governments on a day-to-day basis are still evolving. In this context, many local governments need to strengthen their institutional capacity in terms of human resources and infrastructure to implement projects and manage funds – including how to manage climate risks better.
