Adb Signs A Grant to Support Disaster Management for Herders

On October 28th, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Mongolia signed a three million USD grant to support community-based approaches to disaster risk management in parts of Dornod, Gobi-Altai, Khuvsgul and Sukbaatar provinces to increase herders' resilience to dzuds, fires, and other disasters.

The grant is funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), which has implemented projects in the country for the last 16 years dealing with poverty alleviation, community development, livelihoods, and the environment.

Vice Minister of Finance Kh.Bulgantuya signed on behalf of the government, while ADB Country Director Yolanda Fernandez Lommen signed on behalf of ADB. First Secretary Hiroshi Fukasawa from the Embassy of Japan to Mongolia was in attendance. The Chief of the National Emergency Management Agency, the executing agency for the project, Brigadier General Badral, also participated in the event.

"The Strengthening Community Resilience to Dzud and Forest and Steppe Fires Project is the first in Mongolia to introduce a bottom-up institutionalized approach for involving rural communities in disaster risk management an undertaking that will help strengthen the capacity of herders and local disaster risk management administrations to manage risks of dzud and forest and steppe fires in some of the more vulnerable and poor areas of Mongolia," said Fernandez. "The broad scope of this project reflects the work of the government and ADB to target key regions, sectors, and beneficiaries for poverty alleviation, livelihoods, and the environment."

As reported by the ADB, dzuds and forest and steppe fires are among the most damaging natural hazards in...