Risk of climate change increasing in BD

Additional grants from 5-donor

Staff Correspondent : The government is increasing the scope of assistance payable to families at risk of climate change. The project is being implemented by the Directorate of Local Government Engineering under the Local Government Department with the help of five donors and the government. The total expenditure has been estimated at Tk 415 crores. Out of this, the total grant amount is Tk 413.94 crore and the remaining Tk 1.07 crore will be given by the Bangladesh government. The project is funded by the European Union, SIDA, UNDP, UNCDF and the Government of Denmark.
According to sources in the Local Government Department, the main four-year project was initially launched in July 2017 and was scheduled to end in June 2021. But the scope and duration of the project has been extended due to additional funding from donors. The revised scheme will expire in June 2025.
On the other hand, the cost of the main project was estimated at Tk 167.20 crore. It has been increased to Tk 304.55 crore and lastly Tk 415 crore.
According to sources, the project titled Local Government Initiative on Climate Change (LOGIC) is being implemented in 29 upazilas of 9 districts of 5 divisions of the country. Building long-term adaptive capacity to address climate change risks; Providing financing for the livelihood needs of vulnerable households to cope with the effects of climate change; The main objectives of the project are to implement climate adaptation capable schemes for climate vulnerable populations through skill-based financing and increase institutional adaptation capacity as well as increase connectivity from local to national level. Under the project, Community Resilience grants will be given to 42,500 families and Performance Based Climate Resilience grants to 457,000 families at Upazila level.
In the revised scheme, initiatives have been taken to expand the project activities to 2 new districts (Rangamati and Bandarban) and provide assistance to an additional 1 lakh families at risk due to climate change. Besides, a project proposal will be formulated for obtaining money from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).