Africa-Press – Mozambique. The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Thursday said that it would provide $44 million (€37 million) for climate resilience projects in two Mozambican provinces.
“Our board of directors has just approved an investment of $44 million for climate resilience and agriculture in the provinces of Inhambane and Gaza [in southern Mozambique],” said Pietro Toigo, the AfDB representative in Mozambique.
The AfDB representative was speaking after a meeting with the government of Inhambane province, also in southern Mozambique.
According to Toigo, the amount is for projects that will be implemented for five years by the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management (INGD) of Mozambique, with emphasis on training small farmers to adopt techniques and technologies for climate resilience, as well as reducing post-harvest losses.
“The [amount] will also fund water resource management infrastructure projects,” Toigo said.
Mozambique is considered one of the most severely affected by climate change in the world, facing cyclical flooding and tropical cyclones.
In the 2020-2021 rainy season Mozambique was plagued by extreme weather events highlighted by storm Chalane and cyclones Eloise and Guambe, in addition to other weeks of heavy rain and flooding.
The bad weather caused at least 96 deaths, affected 676,314 people and also caused 150 injuries, according to government data.
The 2018/2019 rainy season was one of the most severe in memory in Mozambique: 714 people died, including 648 victims of two of the largest cyclones (Idai and Kenneth) ever to hit the country.
