10.04.2018
Green Climate Fund finances climate adaptation in Grenada
The first project proposed by GIZ has been approved. More than 100,000 people are to benefit from a more reliable water supply.
Climate models predict that storms and droughts in the Caribbean will become more frequent and severe as a result of climate change. On the island of Grenada, which is also affected, it is important to secure scarce water resources in the long term and to use them more efficiently.
On behalf of the Green Climate Fund, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH therefore aims to make the water supply more resilient to the effects of climate change. This includes protecting existing water resources more effectively and increasing storage capacities. To achieve this, 16 storm-proof water storage facilities will be built with the help of local construction companies. Water extracted from rivers and wells will also be improved and water resources used more efficiently, for example through improved irrigation methods in agriculture or water-saving technologies in hotels. The entire population of Grenada – more than 100,000 people – are set to benefit from this by 2024.
The activities follow on from a programme commissioned by the Germany Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), in which diverse strategies for climate change adaptation were piloted in Grenada. This latest project was approved by the Green Climate Fund at the end of February, with local activities expected to start towards the end of the year.
In addition to the water supply, the focus will then also be on renewable energy. The power supply of the National Water and Sewerage Authority is to switch to renewable energy, a measure that will be co-financed by the BMU. Another priority is to improve the energy efficiency of the water supply. The goal is to extend the measures tested in Grenada to other small island states in the Caribbean at a later date. To facilitate this, intensive dialogue is taking place at a regional level.
The Green Climate Fund was founded in 2010 by 194 states at the World Climate Change Conference in Cancún, Mexico, and aims to provide funding for climate projects in developing countries that work to reduce greenhouse gases and support climate change adaptation. The accreditation agreement between GIZ and the Green Climate Fund was signed at the climate change conference in Bonn in November 2017.
