The Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Wendy Glimour and the First Secretary Emilie Milroy visited GLOF II Gilgit office on 9^th Feb 2021.

The Provincial Coordinator GLOF-II briefed her about the project and its objectives and background; the Scaling-up of GLOF risk reduction in Northern Pakistan (GLOF-II) project is a continuation of the four-year ‘Reducing Risks and Vulnerabilities from GLOF in Northern Pakistan’ (GLOF-I) project. GLOF-II aims to help vulnerable communities to prepare for and mitigate GLOF risks through early warning systems, enhanced infrastructure and community-based disaster risk management.

Ms. Gilmore appreciated the efforts of project team, and the implementing units for incorporation and documentation of indigenous knowledge like glacial grafting and community engagement. The First Secretary inquired youth engagement in the interventions proposed under the project. GLOF-II Provincial Coordinator emphasised on the opportunities given to the youth under the internship program, where the local youth from different districts are involved to enhance knowledge of the professional world.  GLOF-II is also supporting research students working on climate change resilience.

The early warning systems were of immense interest to the ambassador and she wanted to learn how communities receive the alerts to safeguard against such catastrophise. She was fascinated to learn about the use of drone technologies to monitor GLOF events.

Possible avenues of collaboration between Canada and GLOF II were also discussed. The team was apprised on the selection of only 24 valleys for the project and talked about the need for more financial resources and technological access to upscale the project in future, and to expand its horizons in upcoming years to all the valleys vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Ms Gilmore inquired about the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as the funding body for the project and appreciated the timely provision of resources from GCF and project team’s active collaboration with the donor for various project activities.

The High Commissioner and First Secretary were given project souvenirs as a token of thanks and  an invitation was extended for visiting the project management unit in Islamabad to know further about GLOF-II and GCF partnership.

For additional information, please contact Ayesha Babar at ayesha.babar@undp.org  or +92 (51) 835 5650

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