WASHINGTON, January 12th, 2010 – The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved an additional US$450.000 grant today to aid Peru’s efforts to strengthen tropical Andean ecosystems and mitigate the negative effects associated to glacial retreat.
“Climate change represents a worldwide challenge and the Bank is conscious of this state of affairs, that is the reason we have decided to support this financing, as these areas perform a crucial role in water regulation and availability, and we have only recently found out that they are especially prone to the effects of climate change,” Felipe Jaramillo, World Bank Regional Director for Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, pointed out.
This grant will contribute to the strengthening of local ecosystems and local economies in the face of glacial retreat in the tropical Andean, through the implementation of specific activities such as:
- Development of a scientific baseline for high mountain ecosystems.
- Definition of guidelines to support integrated and sustainable adaptation measures in those ecosystems, which could then be applied in other countries.
This grant will finance complementary activities to the Adaptation to the Accelerated Impact of Glacial Retreat in the Tropical Andes Project, financed by the Global Environment Facility with US$7.49 million, which is being implemented by the General Secretariat of the Andean Community of Nations in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.
