Morocco is set to receive a $350 million loan from the World Bank to support its efforts to combat climate change.

Development Diaries reports that the funding, which is under Programme-for-Results financing, is aimed at helping the government of Morocco to accelerate the implementation of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

Morocco has been identified as a very vulnerable country by the fourth Assessment Report of the United Nations intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

According to the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) 2022 Climate Survey, climate change has negatively affected the livelihoods of Moroccan people, with 51 percent of the population stating that their income has been affected.

The survey also revealed that the losses are due to severe drought, rising sea levels or coastal erosion, or extreme weather events such as floods or hurricanes.

The World Bank’s Country Director for the Maghreb and Malta, Jesko Hentschel, said, ‘The new financing focuses on strengthening institutional and policy capacity for mainstreaming climate change into development policies and programmes.

‘It will achieve this by improving the policy tools, systems, data management, and fiscal and financial institutions and strengthening coordination among various sectoral ministries and agencies’.

Sector Leader for Sustainable Development for the Maghreb countries and Programme Co-Leader at the World Bank, Carole Megevand, said the programme aims to enhance the climate resilience of vulnerable people and ecosystems.

‘It will contribute to expand the health coverage of farmers and family members, who are disproportionally exposed to climate-induced health risks’, Megevand said.

‘It will also protect and restore traditional oases, particularly vulnerable to climate change and deploy Nature-Based Solutions to tackle climate vulnerabilities’.

Photo source: World Bank