29 November 2013: The Asian Development Bank (ADB), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Rockefeller Foundation launched ‘Managing Climate Risks for the Urban Poor,’ a programme to help secondary cities in Asia address climate change impacts.

The programme aims to roll out 25 infrastructure projects and other resilience activities to protect 2.2 million poor and vulnerable populations in target cities in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Viet Nam by 2021. “The region’s cities are going through an unprecedented population boom and their poorest citizens are in the front line of an increase in extreme floods, sea level rises and other climate change-linked events,” said Gil-Hong Kim, ADB. He explained that the projects will be designed for replication and scalability and will involve poor and vulnerable groups in planning and investment decisions.

The programme will support comprehensive, linked approaches to urban climate proofing activities. Projects will include assistance for preparing climate resilient infrastructure projects that benefit the poor and assistance for incorporating climate change and disaster risk and resilience approaches into city plans. It will also support early warning systems and regulatory reforms, as well as research on lessons learned and best practices on urban climate change.

ADB will administer the programme’s financing through an Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund. The programme aims to leverage $1 billion from public, private and municipal sources. [ADB Press Release] [Programme Infographic]