New Delhi: The World Bank’s Board of Directors have approved a $150 million loan to support the ‘Resilient Kerala Program’ to continue strengthening the state’s preparedness against natural disasters, climate change impacts, and disease outbreaks. This additional financing will further deepen Kerala’s resilience in the critical areas of coastal erosion and water resource management.
Kerala is highly vulnerable to natural disasters and prone to the effects of climate change, given its location along the Southern Indian coast. In 2021, floods and landslides in the state led to a number of deaths and damages of around $100 million. Recurring disasters such as these have left devastating impacts on the livelihoods of vulnerable groups, especially women farmers and fisherwomen.
This financing complements the bank’s earlier investment of $125 million and the overall support of the two projects is expected to protect nearly 5 million people from the impacts of floods.
World Bank’s country director for India, Auguste Tano Kouame, said,
Through this additional financing, the World Bank will continue supporting Kerala in increasing its resilience to climate change. The project will focus on addressing coastal erosion along vulnerable areas of the state impacting millions of lives.
45 per cent of Kerala’s 580 km coastline is eroding due to sustained levels of urbanization and deforestation. Heavy rainfall wreaks havoc in the upland districts and rivers of the Pamba River basin, including in the Idukki district where the river starts.
Also Read: On World Environment Day, India’s First Climate Resilient School Launched By Dettol In Uttarakhand
Studies have also shown that forest cover here has fallen by over 44 per cent between 1925 and 2012, while settlements have increased by 400 per cent. The additional financing will expand and deepen the state’s resilience to mitigate the impacts of coastal erosion by building a shoreline management plan. The plan will assess the current and future shoreline changes in the state and create policies to address the risks to environmental resources, human settlements, and infrastructure along the coast.
After the devastating floods and landslides of 2018, the World Bank invested in building Kerala’s capabilities to respond to shocks to the state’s economy and prevent the loss of lives, assets, and livelihoods. The program supported important policy and institutional reforms in the state, including improved management of the Pamba River basin, sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture, and risk-informed land use. and disaster management planning at local levels.
Additional resources will now address hotspots and vulnerable coastal erosion sites where immediate attention is needed. It will also help develop an integrated river basin management plan for the Pamba River basin and support the restoration of rivers and lake embankments to minimize flood damages in future.
The project will help the state develop a climate budget and a roadmap to help fill gaps in the state’s open data and digital systems to reduce people’s vulnerability to natural hazards. Currently, satellite maps, risk maps and sectoral data are not integrated into a single platform, leading to gaps in the planning and execution of public sector investments. Elif Ayhan, Balakrishna Menon Parameswaran, Natsuko Kikutake and Deepak Singh, task team leaders for the project said,
The additional financing will help scale up the coverage of the original program from four to nine coastal districts in the state. By building the state’s technical capacities, this new financing will focus on improving its ability to plan, budget, and implement initiatives that will help Kerala achieve climate resilience
The $150 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a final maturity of 14 years, including a grace period of six years.
This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
