The World Bank, as an accredited entity for the Green Climate Fund (GCF), yesterday approved additional financing totaling 19 million U.S. dollars for the Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin (CAMP4ASB) project, the first to be funded by GCF in Central Asia.

Implemented by the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), the Committee for Environmental Protection of Tajikistan, and the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan, the additional financing will support climate change adaptation and mitigation practices among the most vulnerable rural populations in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, according to the World Bank.

To this end, the project will fund a range of activities, such as crop diversification, better water resource management, rehabilitation of degraded lands, and expansion of renewable energy sources, among others.  To ensure sustainability and ownership of these sub-projects, the beneficiaries will be required to make at least a 10 percent contribution.  The project expects to reach 205,000 individuals, with women making up at least 40 percent.

The additional financing will also enhance regionally coordinated access to improved climate change knowledge services for policymakers, local communities, and civil society organizations in Central Asia.

Launched in August 2016, the CAMP4ASB program has worked to equip and ultimately enable countries in Central Asia to address climate challenges through better access to improved climate change knowledge services, investments, and capacity-building of key stakeholders.  The project has supported climate-smart agriculture investments benefitting more than 15,000 people and supporting the creation of 4,300 new jobs.  Over 6,500 farmers and other project beneficiaries have reportedly participated in capacity-building and awareness-raising activities and events.  Among project beneficiaries are the specialists of state-run institutions and academia working in the areas of hydrological modeling, early warning, updating curricula at universities, etc.