WB APPROVED NEW PROJECT FOR RURAL SOLS TODAY

WB Office, Honiara, Solomon Islands

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has today approved a new project to help rural Solomon Islands communities mitigate and manage risks of natural hazards and climate change.

The project aims to strengthen climate and disaster risk information and early warning systems, and direct community investments in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

It will also help integrate climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in government policies and operations.

Called the Community Resilience to Climate Change and Disaster Risk in Solomon Islands Project, or the CRISP for short, the Project has a grant worth 7-point-3 US million dollars from the Global Environment Facility for Least Developing Countries.

The project also received a further 1-point-8 million US dollars from other international agencies.

World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, Denis Jordy said through the CRISP, Solomon Islanders living in communities exposed to natural hazards and climate change impacts are better prepared to avoid and manage the impact of those risks.

The project is to be implemented over 6 years by the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Risk Management and Meteorology.

Beneficiaries will be from communities in up to four provinces, and will total approximately 79-thousand people over the five year implementation period.