With UN – Habitat for Lao People's Democratic Republic 31 October 2019 | Strategic Frameworks
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
with UN – Habitat for Lao People's Democratic Republic 31 October 2019 | Strategic Frameworks Programme title: Urban climate change resilience in cities along the Greater Mekong Sub- region East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) in Lao PDR Country: Lao PDR Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Climate National designated authority: Change Implementing Institution: UN-Habitat Lao PDR Date of first submission: 30 September 2018 Date of current submission / 12 July, 2019 version number V. 05 Readiness and Preparatory Support Page 2 of 17 How to complete this document? - Please visit the Empowering Countries page of the GCF website to download the Readiness Guidebook and learn how to access funding under the GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme. - This document should be completed by National Designated Authorities (NDA) or focal points with support from their Delivery Partners where relevant. Once completed, this document should be submitted to the GCF by the NDA or focal point to [email protected]. - Please be concise. If you need to include any additional information, please attach it to the proposal. - If the Delivery Partner implementing the Readiness support is not a GCF Accredited Entity for project Funding Proposals, please complete the Financial Management Capacity Assessment (FMCA) questionnaire and submit it prior to or with this Readiness proposal. The FMCA is available for download at the Library page of the GCF website. Where to get support? - If you are not sure how to complete this document, or require support, please send an e-mail to [email protected]. - You can also complete as much of this document as you can and then send it to [email protected], copying both the Readiness Delivery Partner and the relevant GCF Country Dialogue Specialist and Regional Advisor. Please refer to the Country Profiles page of the GCF website to identify the relevant GCF Country Dialogue Specialist and Regional Advisor. - We will get back to you within five (5) working days to acknowledge receipt of your submission and discuss the way forward. Note: Environmental and Social Safeguards and Gender Throughout this document, when answering questions and providing details, please make sure to pay special attention to environmental, social and gender issues, particularly to the situation of vulnerable populations, including women and men. Please be specific about proposed actions to address these issues. Consult Annex IV of the Readiness Guidebook for more information. Please submit the completed form to: [email protected] Please use the following naming convention for the file name: “GCF Readiness Proposal-[Country]-[yymmdd]” Readiness and Preparatory Support Page 3 of 17 1. SUMMARY Country name: Lao People’s Democratic Republic Ministry of Natural Resources and Name of institution representing NDA or Environment, Department of Climate Focal Point: Change Name of contact person: Mr. Syamphone Sengchandala Contact person’s position: Deputy Director General Country submitting the Telephone number: +856 20 5550 8961 proposal Email: [email protected] Ministry of Natural Resources and Full office address: Environment Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR Additional email addresses that need to - be copied on correspondences: Date of initial 30 September 2018 submission Last date of 12 July 2019 Version number V.05 resubmission ☐ National designated authority Accredited entity ☒ Delivery partner Please provide contact information if the implementing partner is not the NDA/focal point Name of institution: UN-Habitat Name of official: Atsushi Koresawa Which institution Director, UN-Habitat Regional Office for will implement the Position: Readiness and Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) Preparatory Support project? Telephone number: + 81927247121 Email: [email protected] UN-HABITAT ROAP-Fukuoka ACROS Fukuoka Building, 8th Floor Full office address: 1-1-1 Tenjin, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka 810- 0001, Japan. Additional email addresses that need to [email protected] be copied on correspondences: [email protected] Title of the Urban climate change resilience in cities along the Greater Mekong Sub-region East- Readiness West Economic Corridor (EWEC) in Lao PDR support proposal Please select the relevant GCF Readiness activity area below (click on the box): Type of ☒ I. Country capacity for engagement with GCF Readiness support sought ☐ II. Country programming process ☐ III. Direct access to climate finance Readiness and Preparatory Support Page 4 of 17 ☐ IV. Climate finance accessed ☐ V. Formulation of national adaptation planning and/or other adaptation planning processes Readiness and Preparatory Support Page 5 of 17 The East West Economic Corridor (EWEC) in Lao PDR, which runs through Savannakhet Province, is characterised by increasing levels of investment, cross-border trade1 and as a result, faces higher rates of urbanisation than the rest of the country. Concurrently, settlements in this area are increasingly being impacted by hazards associated with Climate Change: in recent years floods have affected at least 750,000 people, while at least 100,000 people were affected by severe storms. However, there is limited understanding of the linkage between investments, infrastructure development, population growth and changing settlements in the EWEC and how these are currently being impacted by CC. These areas have great potential for economic green growth, alleviating poverty and improving the living standards for some of the most vulnerable people in Lao PDR. However, the economic growth is being put at risk because of limited capacity and activities to incorporate CC resilient investment at the sub-national level. Thus, GCF funds will be used for strengthening the local and institutional capacity for stimulating CC resilient investment flows along the EWEC in Laos. With increased capacity and financing, the EWEC in Laos offers considerable potential for climate resilient economic growth and sustainable development. The proposed project is in line with the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of Brief summary of Laos of the Paris Agreement. Laos’ NDC has five priority areas for adaptation projects; the request 1) Agriculture, 2) Forestry and Land Use Change, 3) Water Resources, 4) Transport and Urban Development, 5) Public Health. This project aligns with the Transport and Urban Development priority area. It also will provide some support to the mitigation priority area on the implementation of climate change action plans (which include adaptation, but in many cases have not been developed yet). The beneficiaries of this project will be technical level officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Ministry of Planning and Investment, and officials from their respective provincial departments in Savannakhet (note, in Laos, each ministry has a corresponding department at the province level). The proposed project also builds on UN-Habitat’s implementation comparative advantage, acquired through an extensive country programme and history of project implementation is Laos. The project aligns with, and complements, UN-Habitat’s existing portfolio of projects in Laos. Currently, UN-Habitat is implementing the Climate and Disaster Resilient Rural and Emerging Human Settlements Project in nearby Attapeu, Sekong and Saravan Provinces. Other projects under implementation or recently completed led by UN-Habitat and that are of direct relevance to the proposed GCF Readiness project include the Mekong Region Water and Sanitation Initiative (MEK- WATSAN), the Water for Asian Cities programme, and the Low Emissions Development project, implemented in conjunction with ICLEI. Total requested 349,992 USD Anticipated duration 18 months amount and currency ☒ Yes So far, Lao PDR has received 4 Readiness funding allocations, all of 18 months length for a total sum of almost 1.6 million usd: Has the country received or is expecting to receive other Readiness and Preparatory With UNDP as accredited entity for GCF initial Readiness for Support funding allocations (including strengthening the country’s capacity and engaging adaptation planning) from GCF or other stakeholders; with FAO as accredited entity focusing on the donors? forestry sector, in order to optimize the formalization of coordination mechanisms and the implementation of the REDD+ strategy; with GGGI as delivery partner focusing on low emissions, resilience analysis and cities preparedness in the frame of green climate resilient cities; and with GIZ as delivery partner for supporting the accreditation process of 1 Cross border trade takes place with both Vietnam and Thailand. Readiness and Preparatory Support Page 6 of 17 the Environmental protection Fund (EPF). 2. BACKGROUND The GCF Readiness Grant will be supporting a study of the towns in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), along a 229-kilometres-long stretch of the East West Economic Corridor (EWEC) 2 in Laos in order to contribute to becoming better equipped in the development as resilient settlements in the context of a changing climate. The development of the transnational corridor has been spearheaded by projects funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, due to the actual limited understanding of the linkage between investments, development, demographic change and the impact of climate change, the implementation of readiness activities now has significant potential to offset maladaptation in the long run. The 1,320 km East–West Economic Corridor