Govt project makes 2-lakh households resilient to climate change

Around two lakh vulnerable households in seven disaster-prone districts are getting benefits from a government project, which helps them enhance their resilience capacity to climate change.

The Local Government Division is implementing the Local Government Initiatives on Climate change (LoGIC) involving US$ 568,558 for 2019 in 72 unions of Khunla, Bagerhat, Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola, Kurigram and Sunamganj, project officials said.

Under the project, every union parishad is getting about Taka 30 lakh to strengthen its capacity to address climate change impacts, while the community resilience fund is being distributed to the most vulnerable communities to build their capacity, project’s Khulna district grants monitor and facilitator Md Asadul Hoque told BSS.

He said 10 most vulnerable unions in Khulna are getting about Taka eight crore and 18 unions are receiving around Taka 12 crore to strengthen their capacity in addressing climate change impacts.

Bagerhat district grants monitor and facilitator Ferdausi Sharmin said apart from providing support to the communities, the project is giving financial support to the vulnerable individual households to help them create livelihood options.

“About 18,000 households have already received US$ 320 each under the project,” she added.

Noting that LoGIC project is linking the concerned department of the government with the marginal people aiming to make them climate-resilient, Sharmin said the local government bodies are being strengthened by imparting training to its officials so that they can incorporate the climate change issues in their plans and programmes.

Officials of the Local government bodies were trained on how climate change issues could be put in the annual budget and the five-year-plan of the union parishads, she said.

Ripon Kumar Mondal, chairman of Deluti Union Parishad of Paikgacha upazila in Khulna, said after taking support from the project, his union parisad imparted training to women on crab cultivation and all of them are farming crabs now.

He said the union parishad also created a climate fund from its budgetary allocation aiming to address the impacts of extreme climate events as his union is located in a disaster-prone area.

LoGIC, a multi-donor collaborative initiative of the government, UNDP, UNCDF, EU and SIDA, aims to enhance the capacity of vulnerable communities, the Local Government Institutions (LGI) and civil society organisations for planning and financing climate change adaptation solutions in selected climate vulnerable areas.

Project priorities are being addressed through three sets of core actions: capacity building, providing access to climate change funds and policy advocacy.