The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a new regional program to promote sustainable water use and food security in Central Asia, the South Caucasus and Pakistan, amid the catastrophic impacts of melting glaciers.
With support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), ADB will conduct glacier risk assessments in Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
These will form the scientific and technical basis for the program-called Glaciers to Farms-which envisages mobilizing up to $3.5 billion from a range of actors including ADB, GCF, other development partners, and the private sector, subject to those institutions’ board approval processes. In addition to water and agriculture investments, the program will support vulnerable communities threatened by glacial melt, particularly in fragile mountain regions.
