Pakistan: Government yet to start work on Glacial Lake Outburst Flood project

By Shahzad Paracha 

The Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) has failed to start work on the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) project due to inter-departmental issues, as funding for the country’s community-based disaster risk management may cease due to such problems.

Sources said that the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a global funding organisation, had approved U.S. $37 million worth of funding for the GLOF project despite the Indian opposition, and a sum of $10 million was released in October last year; however, owing to communication issues between federal departments, the ministry did not start the project.

The GCF has also written a letter to MoCC asking for the project status as, if the government fails to start work on it, then they might cancel the funding, sources added.

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GLOF are sudden events which can release millions of cubic metres of water and debris, leading to the loss of lives, property and livelihoods among remote and impoverished mountain communities. Over 7.1 million people in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are vulnerable.

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