Enhancing Climate Resilience and Sustainable Ecosystems
Project Information
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is implementing the project “Enhancing Climate Resilience and Sustainable Ecosystems” in the Swat and Buner districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Swat and Buner are mountain districts where most families depend on farming, livestock and forests for their livelihoods. Both districts face increasingly frequent flash floods and landslides; a 2025 flood in Buner alone damaged tens of thousands of acres of farmland, and existing local plans for adapting to these risks cover only a small part of the two districts.
This initiative aims to reduce climate vulnerability by mainstreaming ecosystem-based adaptation into district-level planning and governance frameworks. This project is helping Swat and Buner develop their own district-wide Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPAs), so that communities and local government can identify climate risks and prioritize nature-based responses together. Alongside this, the project is strengthening climate-resilient agricultural value chains crops and products like olives, lemongrass, tomatoes and fruit that can improve both incomes and ecosystem health and helping women and young people access new, greener livelihood opportunities.
Project Status
1. District Coordination Committees (DCCs) Reactivated: Existing DCCs in Swat and Buner were reactivated as the institutional platform for government departments, technical stakeholders and implementing partners to coordinate climate adaptation planning and oversee project implementation going forward.
2. Stakeholder Mapping and Institutional Engagement Completed: Completed a comprehensive stakeholder mapping and influence analysis across both districts, and reactivated District Coordination Committees (DCCs) in Swat and Buner as the institutional platform for climate adaptation planning underpinned by 19 coordination meetings with district administrations and line departments (Forest, Agriculture, Livestock, Public Health Engineering, Disaster Management, Environmental Protection).
3. Resource Assessment Tool Developed (Initial Draft): Developed an initial draft of the Resource Assessment Tool to systematically map natural resources, financial allocations, ADP resources and sectoral investments relevant to climate adaptation the evidence backbone for both districts’ Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPAs). Field-level data collection against this structure is now being finalized alongside the LAPA and Value Chain consultancies.
4. Gender-Responsive Stakeholder Engagement Plan Developed (Initial Draft): Developed an initial draft Gender-Responsive Stakeholder Engagement Plan and gender-disaggregated monitoring indicator set, built directly into the project’s ESMS risk mitigation design to guide equitable beneficiary targeting and the inclusion of women and girls in training, entrepreneurship and value chain activities. The plan is under joint technical review ahead of field validation.
5. Farmer and Youth Profiling Tools Developed: Developed Farmer and Youth Profiling and Beneficiary Identification Tools and began engagement with local farmer organizations and civil society partners including Muslim Hands, the Sarhad Rural Support Programme, HELVETAS Pakistan and LASOONA together with farmer groups linked to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rural Economic Transformation Project (KP-RETP).
6. Broad-Based Government Engagement Established: 19 coordination meetings were held with district administrations and line departments across Swat (10) and Buner (9) including Forest, Agriculture, Livestock, Public Health Engineering, Disaster Management and Environmental Protection representatives building the institutional ownership needed to carry LAPA development and EbA mainstreaming forward.
7. Groundwork Laid for Value Chain Strengthening and Green Livelihoods: Completed primary and secondary baseline data collection for the agriculture value chain analysis (consolidated report in finalization) and began initial mapping of financial service providers and government-supported financing schemes to inform the forthcoming climate-smart agriculture, private sector linkage, and green jobs and entrepreneurship activities.
