By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Adaptation Fund of USD 6.094 million project aimed to enhance resilience to water scarcity, caused by floods and droughts at community level, district/city and national/provincial level in Rawalpindi and Nowshera cities. The project developed by UN-Habitat in collaboration with the government of Pakistan and other stakeholders.
Reducing the impact of flooding and droughts was becoming one of the top priorities of the government. The project will install rainwater harvesting units both at household level and public buildings to demonstrate cost-effective solution to adapt to both floods and droughts.
To scale the project’s approach, a national urban strategy will be developed, focusing on climate change impacts, particularly floods and water scarcity (and resulting public health problems), while also employing a spatial planning approach.
The project will be implemented by UN-Habitat, Ministry of Climate Change, National Disaster Management Authority, Pakistan Council for Research on Water Resources. In light of the current COVID-19 crisis, the rainwater harvesting units are extremely relevant as these interventions will improve the hygienic conditions of the local communities.
