Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) project ends with a significant progress supporting local Civil Society organizations and Government addressing climate change in Timor-Leste from 2019 – 2022
Dili, 8 July 2022 – HE the Ambassador of the European Union Mr. Andrew Jacobs, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports HE Mr. Armindo Maia, the Secretary State of Environment HE Mr. Demetrio Do Amaral De Carvalho, the Secretary State of Civil Protection HE Mr. Joaquim Jose Gusmao dos Reis Martins and Country Director Plan International Timor-Leste, Mrs. Dillyana Ximenes closes Climate Change Adaptation project today with a significant achievement in addressing climate change in Timor-Leste.
Timor-Leste features among the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world and is ranked as having the tenth highest risk rating on the World Risk Index (2018 No 13). Already prone to earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, heavy rainfall, and droughts, Timor-Leste’s climate vulnerability is worsened by high vulnerability and low coping capacities due to a combination of high poverty rates, high dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods (70% of the population rely on rain-fed subsistence agriculture) and increasing environmental degradation, as well as limited institutional capacity, technology, and infrastructure. Plan International Timor-Leste and RAEBIA, with funding support from the European Union (EU), have implemented a three-year project to support local civil society organizations and governments in effectively addressing climate change. The overall objective of the project is to enable Timorese civil society organizations (CSOs) to actively promote activities and policies (that are gender-sensitive and socially inclusive) to prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change in Timor-Leste.
HE the Ambassador of the European Union Mr. Andrew Jacobs state: “Climate change is a reality, and Timor-Leste is badly hit – we see for instance increasing floods, subsidence, deforestation, and crop failure. Livelihoods and lives are threatened. It is important that we all adapt to climate change in order to be able to survive. We need to review agricultural practices, we need to build defences against floods, and we need to act against erosion and environmental degradation. This project has achieved a lot, but we must all continue and increase our work in Climate Change Adaptation, for the sake of future generations.
“On behalf of the team Plan International Timor-Leste, our implementing partner RAEBIA and 26 local partners, I would like to appreciate the financial support from the European Union to the implementation of CCA project in Dili, Ainaro and Aileu Municipalities in three years period. The success of the project thanks to great support and collaboration from MEJD, SEA and SEPC”, said the Country Director of Plan International Timor-Leste, Mrs. Dillyana Ximenes.
During the implementation of the project, from 2019 - 2022, the project has contributed to the current efforts of the Government in Timor-Leste in preparing for and coping with the impacts of natural disasters. In line with the aims of the National Adaptation Programme of Project on Climate Change (NAPA), whose overarching vision is to make Timorese people more resilient to climate change, the project also contributed to creating a national framework for engaging CSOs, development partners, and the public in a participatory process for responding to climate change to support sustainable development.
