ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and other climate-vulnerable nations will have to wait longer for financial support from the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) after its board postponed funding approvals to allow more time for evaluating an overwhelming number of project proposals against limited available resources.
The decision was taken during the 9th FRLD Board meeting, held in Manila from July 8 to 10, where members agreed to defer grant approvals until December 2026. The delay drew criticism from civil society organisations, which warned that frontline communities facing increasing climate-related disasters could suffer further setbacks.
Established at COP27 in Egypt (2022), the FRLD was operationalised at COP28 in Dubai and became fully functional at COP29 in Azerbaijan. With nearly $500 million currently available, the Fund launched its first global call for proposals at COP30 in Brazil.
The response far exceeded available resources, with 176 funding proposals from 119 developing countries seeking a combined $2.8 billion, more than eleven times the $250 million initially allocated for the Fund’s pilot phase.
The FRLD Board had planned to consider four proposals from Haiti, Jamaica, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire to establish funding procedures for future grants. However, the decision was postponed after board members concluded that only a small fraction of the submitted proposals had undergone preliminary review.
Pakistan’s representative on the FRLD Board, Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, said the Fund received nearly 100 applications on the final submission day alone, making it impossible to complete assessments within the scheduled timeframe. He expressed hope that around two-thirds of the proposals would be reviewed by December, allowing approximately a dozen projects to be approved at the Fund’s 10th Board meeting, particularly if additional financial contributions are secured.
The Fund’s current Barbados Implementation Mechanism (BIM) pilot phase has allocated $250 million for project financing, although only about $500 million has been contributed to the Fund so far. Civil society group Fill the Fund noted that even after increasing BIM’s allocation to $342 million, the available funding would cover only about 12% of the total requested amount.
Pakistan has submitted three proposals seeking support from the Fund. According to official sources, one proposal has successfully completed peer review and received positive feedback, while another—focused on climate-resilient health systems in Balochistan—is still under evaluation.
The three proposed projects include:
- Responding to Unavoidable Climate Impacts through Recovery and Systems Strengthening, seeking $20 million through UNDP.
- Climate-Resilient Health Systems for Vulnerable Communities in Pakistan, a Balochistan-focused initiative requesting $18 million through the World Health Organization (WHO).
- Compensation and Rehabilitation of Private Fish Farms and Public Sector Fish Hatcheries damaged by flash floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, requesting $20 million.
Officials remain optimistic that at least one of Pakistan’s proposals will secure funding once approvals begin.
Meanwhile, civil society organisations criticised the FRLD Board for delaying the Fund’s Resource Mobilisation Strategy, leaving no clear roadmap for raising the estimated $400 billion annually required to address climate-related loss and damage in developing countries.
Campaigners also raised concerns over unresolved governance issues linked to the World Bank’s hosting arrangements, arguing that administrative hurdles continue to slow the Fund’s operations and delay support for vulnerable communities.
Calling for urgent action, campaign representatives urged the Board to accelerate funding decisions and significantly increase financial commitments, warning that without meaningful resource mobilisation, the Loss and Damage Fund risks falling short of the expectations of climate-vulnerable nations.
Story by Zaki Abbas
