The Green Climate Fund (GCF) signed today a funding agreement with the French Development Agency, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), to finance the Water Banking and Adaptation of Agriculture to Climate Change project in Northern Gaza.

Agricultural inefficiencies in the area lead to the overuse of water and high evaporation, putting additional pressure on the aquifer under the increasing effects of climate change. The project aims to limit the compounding effects of global warming on water resources. By creating a closed cycle of reusing treated wastewater for irrigated agriculture, it will add unconventional resources to the water balance in the region.

This multiplier effect will alleviate pressure on the coastal aquifer and improve the climate resilience of farmers and local populations. The initiative will rehabilitate infiltration basins that recharge the coastal aquifer with 13 million cubic meters of treated domestic wastewater per year.

Water use efficiency in agriculture will also be improved through the provision of on-farm water saving equipment, such as drip irrigation. In addition, agricultural extension services will be provided to 4,200 farming households, covering 1,500 hectares and directly supporting more than 23,000 people.

The project will also finance the development of a solar PV scheme to operate the wastewater treatment plant, the aquifer recharge and recovery scheme, and the supply of groundwater to agriculture lands. The PV scheme will produce an average of 9,411 MWh of electricity per year to operate the entire wastewater reuse system.

AFD’s Chief Executive Officer Rémy Rioux and GCF Deputy Executive Director Javier Manzanares signed the Funded Activity Agreement (FAA) on the sidelines of COP25 in Madrid. The signing of the FAA, which is a prerequisite for GCF’s disbursal of funds, comes less than a month after the GCF Board approved the project.