LUSAKA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has partnered with the Zambian government to undertake two climate adaptation projects aimed at protecting the ecosystem along one of the country's biggest river and a national park.

The projects include the Kafue Flats Climate Resilience and Adaptation project and the Kafue Flats Wildlife, Habitat, Health and Livelihood project.

The two projects will be undertaken in five years at a cost of 9 million U.S. dollars funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a multilateral environmental fund established in 1991 that provides grants and blended finance for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

Nalucha Nganga-Ziba, the WWF-Zambia country director, said her organization was honored to be selected to partner with the government in implementing the two projects to support communities on sustainable crop and livestock farming and support to livestock conservation.

"With the recent severe drought, these needs have become even more urgent, with many communities' crops failing, including in the Kafue Flats," she said during an inception meeting of the two projects.

While acknowledging that the adaptation will only start in mid-2025, the WWF representative said it would build on the government's drought relief efforts by strengthening communities' long-term resilience to water scarcity through putting in boreholes and rooftop water harvesting.

She added that the projects will also promote holistic rangeland management, and unlock resources to restore grazing lands for both livestock and wildlife animals.

Douty Chibamba, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment, said the need to build the resilience of farming communities to future impacts of climate change has now become more crucial and a matter of priority.

He said the ministry has been working with the WWF and other partners to develop and design interventions to curb the numerous environmental challenges and build resilience of the ecosystems.

According to him, the two projects were aimed at promoting a transformational approach that not only preserves the ecosystem and wildlife habitat in the Kafue Flats but also makes communities more adaptative and resilient.

"The projects will work at the landscape and ecosystem level and promote a whole-of-society approach with active participation of all stakeholders including local communities at various levels of governance across multiple sectors to address the challenges posed by climate change collaboratively and comprehensively," he said.

The projects, he added, will support the government's efforts in promoting biodiversity conservation, sustainable land management and increase people's resilience to climate change. ■