ISLAMABAD: The World Bank on Saturday agreed to join hands with the government to strengthen disaster resilience and ecosystem restoration efforts through more reliable and timely weather forecasting and improved disaster-risk management services.

The assistance will also help Pakistan tackle growing environmental challenges, the climate change ministry`s focal person Muhammad Saleem told Dawn.

`The World Bank conveyed its willingness to the government of Pakistan to fund an ambitious five-year $188 million `Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services (PHERS)` project.

The project will conclude in 2024-25,` he said while sharing details of the bilateral partnership.

He said that the Prime Minister`s Adviser on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and World Bank Country Director to Pakistan Illango Patchamuthu will sign an agreement on June 1 at the climate change ministry during a ceremony.

The ceremony would be attended, among others, by top key officials of the ministry, Economic Affairs Division, Aviation Division, chief executive officer of the National Disaster Risk Management Fund Pakistan, Pakistan Meteorological Department and National DisasterManagement Authority, the focal person said.

Spelling out more details, he said that the project would be implemented through the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), and managed by the climate change ministry.

Explaining about components, Mr Saleem told Dawn that the project was split into two components, which include hydro-meteorological and climate service and disaster risk management.

The climate change official remarked that Pakistan had gained credible and proven experience by undertaking a much wider eco-system restoration initiative by successfully implementing a worldacclaimed five-year Billion Tree Tsunami project. Now through implementation of the upscale initiative `10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme`, which aims to restore Pakistan`s green cover and protect wildlife, their habitats and conserve biodiversity ecosystems and rapidly depleting natural resources such as land and water.

`However, the new ambitious project `Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services` to be implemented from this year in partnership with the World Bank and various government entities is actually a plan of actions. It builds on evidence and experience of the eco-system restoration gained as a part of the UN Decade for Eco-System Restoration (20202030) programme,` Mr Saleem said.