World Bank commits $100m to climate change in Zambia

THE World Bank will soon provide US$100 million to support the climate resilient programme in Zambia, country director Ina-Marlene Ruthenberg has said.

World Bank Group’s investment portfolio for Zambia currently stands at over US$ 1.2 billion.

Ms Ruthenberg said the group was supporting Government in strengthening institutional framework for climate resilience in order to improve the adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities.

Communities involved are in Northern, Luapula and Muchinga provinces as well as the Barotse sub-basin in Western province.

Ms Ruthenberg was speaking in an interview with Journalists in Lusaka.

“One project is going to help in transforming the landscape. It is about climate resilient in Northern, Luapula and Muchinga provinces. The project will enable communities leverage the natural resource and manage their environment better.

“This is going to be a big programme at US$100 and the idea is to access the climate fund with another US$75 million,” she said.

Ms Ruthetnberg observed the need to support climate change programmes because Zambia was highly vulnerable to droughts and high temperatures.

The bank, she said, was supporting over 30 projects in the various sectors of the economy.

Out of the over 30 projects , 18 were under the International Development Association (IDA) with total net commitment of US$1.07 billion while 13 were under the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with a total value of US$86.5 billion.

She said that the bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has commitments of about US$71 million under the group’s portfolio.

Meanwhile, Ms Ruthenberg said the bank intended to support Zambia in public service delivery programmes at local level.