New World Bank Grant To Enhance Tuvalu’s Climate Financing, Disaster Response, And Resilience

Saturday, 1 March 2025, 7:40 pm
Press Release: World Bank Group

FUNAFUTI, March 1, 2025 – The World Bank has today
committed US$7 million in new grants to support Tuvalu’s
financial management of and resilience to climate-related
disasters. The Tuvalu Second Climate and Disaster Resilience
Development Policy Financing is the second in a series of
two operations aimed at mitigating climate impacts and
strengthening disaster preparedness.

Tuvalu is at the
forefront of climate change. The low-lying atoll country is
highly vulnerable to rising seas, frequent cyclones,
prolonged droughts, and other climate-related events. These
events have resulted in social and economic losses estimated
at almost 7 percent of the country’s GDP every year,
according to the World Bank Group’s 2024 Pacific Atoll
Countries Climate and Development Report. These crises
severely disrupt budget planning and compromise the
country’s ability to deliver essential
services.

“Strengthening our ability to better
manage, account for, report on and allocate funding for
disaster response and climate change adaptation is critical
for Tuvalu,” said the Hon. Panapasi Nelesone, Tuvalu’s
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic
Development. “This grant financing will assist the
government of Tuvalu in improving financial management while
strengthening climate-resilient infrastructure.”

The
new grant will help the government better assess, monitor,
report on, and manage climate financing. It will also (a)
support policy reforms that will see more funding set aside
to respond to disasters more efficiently; (b) ensure that
emergency supplies can be brought in more rapidly during
disasters; (c) equip institutions to ensure that buildings
and other structures are built to withstand natural
disasters; and (d) improve emergency systems, so that Tuvalu
is better able to withstand and recover from climate-related
disasters.

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“Supporting Tuvalu’s climate resilience
and strengthening institutional capacity is critical for
Tuvalu’s economic stability and growth,” said Stefano
Mocci, World Bank Country Manager for the South Pacific.
“The World Bank remains committed to development
initiatives such as this grant support, that are aligned
with Tuvalu’s National Strategy for Sustainable
Development 2021–2030.”

The operation is part of
coordinated budget support under the Government’s Policy
Reform Matrix. Development partners include the Asian
Development Bank, the governments of Australia and New
Zealand, and the European
Union.

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