With funding from the GEF-Least Developed Countries Fund and support of UNDP, Timor-Leste is building rural climate resilience through climate-proof infrastructure including new roads, bridges, drainage canals, irrigation and water supply systems, and flood protection structures able to withstand extreme weather events like flooding and landslides.
Thematic Area

Around the world, the impacts of climate change – rising temperatures, shifting patterns of rainfall, more frequent and intense extreme weather, and rising sea levels – will affect all types of infrastructure from energy and transport to water, waste, and telecommunications. Ensuring the climate change resilience of infrastructure will help to protect lives and livelihoods, reduce direct losses as a result of extreme weather events, and play a key role in meeting the mitigation targets of the Paris Agreement, as well as to meet national development aspirations. Working with a range of partners, and drawing on ecosystem-based adaptation approaches, UNDP is supporting countries to climate-proof rural and urban infrastructure and to advance resilient infrastructure planning. Under the global adaptation portfolio, this work ranges from flood and coastal protection measures to early warning systems to support for enhanced planning and policymaking.
Human stories
Resources
Flood Situation Report | Pakistan 2022
Report published in 2022 following widespread devastating flooding. Includes impacts on infrastructure in 10 valleys of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan, built under the GCF-funded project, as well as rehabilitation efforts.
Project brochure | "GLOF II" Pakistan
Brochure for Green Climate Fund-backed project 'Scaling up of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood risk reduction in Northern Pakistan' (locally known as "GLOF II")
Case Study - Infrastructure
On the coastline of Suriname, Kampong Sawa residents are suffering the impacts of rising sea levels. This case study documents a pilot project conducted through INFRA HUB, designed to combat flooding through adaptation measures for drainage and sanitation systems as well as to mitigate other adverse effects of climate change.