Enhancing the Climate Resilience of Urban Landscapes and Communities in the Thimphu-Paro region of Bhutan (ECRUL)

Extreme temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns have intensified urban flooding, landslides, and forest fires in the cities of Thimphu and Paro, severely impacting the economy, environment, and local communities.

Current infrastructure is inadequate and lacks climate-resilient design, leaving the region increasingly vulnerable to these hazards. These challenges are further exacerbated by a growing urban population, which places additional strain on existing systems. Addressing these risks requires urgent action through nature-based solutions, resilient urban planning, and climate-proof infrastructure development.

This project aims to directly enhance the resilience of over 146,000 residents in the Thimphu-Paro region, safeguarding lives, livelihoods, and the environment. It will focus on managing 800 hectares of watershed and springshed land, developing water retention systems, and upgrading early warning systems to enhance climate resilience.

A key priority is integrating gender-responsive planning into climate-adapted urban development strategies. Initiatives include training over 200 stakeholders and community members, developing local adaptation plans and empowering communities through participatory processes and fostering entrepreneurship, especially among women and youth. The private sector will play a pivotal role through capacity-building initiatives, green financing opportunities and public-private partnerships.

By promoting climate awareness and fostering sustainable behaviour change, the project will significantly enhance the resilience of Thimphu and Paro to climate impacts. 

Outcome 1: Institutional coordination, stakeholder engagement and climate adaptation capacity strengthened for inclusive and-resilient urban planning and development 

Output 1.1: Inter-agency mandates and functions harmonized, and institutional coordination mechanisms established and made functional to facilitate policy coherence for climate-resilient urban planning and development

Output 1.2: Climate and geospatial information systems established with trained urban planners to promote risk informed urban planning

Output 1.3: Climate-resilient and gender-responsive adaptation plans prepared for Thimphu and Paro with active citizen participation and added emphasis on climate resilient entrepreneurship

Output 1.4: Educational and training programmes introduced in colleges and technical schools for skilling, reskilling and upskilling of planning professionals and workforce

Output 1.5: Innovative financing solutions for public and private sector to invest in climate-resilient projects, technologies, and services  

Outcome 2: Climate risk management measures designed and implemented for water management systems and urban infrastructure.

Output 2.1: Climate-proofing features for the key sections of the water and stormwater management systems introduced to ensure flood risk management, safe and uninterrupted water supply and business continuity in critical urban areas

Output 2.2:   NbS developed and implemented to support adaptation to floods, heat-island effect, and landslide and to enrich water sources, natural streams and catchments for improved infiltration, restoration and recharge 

Output 2.3: Measures to increase climate resilience of buildings and design of urban spaces introduced  

Output 2.4: Ancillary rainfall threshold-based flood EWS developed on critical tributaries and integrated with the existing centralized hydro-met data management system (CDMS) of the National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM)

Outcome 3: Project knowledge is managed, and project results are monitored and evaluated to foster learning, adaptive management, sustainability and replication. 

Output 3.1: Knowledge and communication products and platforms developed to analyse and disseminate best practices and project lessons

Output 3.2: Project progress and results are effectively tracked and managed through monitoring and evaluation 

Project-level monitoring and evaluation will be undertaken in compliance with UNDP requirements as outlined in the UNDP POPP (including guidance on GEF project revisions) and UNDP Evaluation Policy The UNDP Country Office is responsible for ensuring full compliance with all UNDP project M&E requirements including project monitoring, UNDP quality assurance requirements, quarterly risk management, and evaluation requirements.  

Component-3 of the project (Knowledge Management and M&E plan) will facilitate learning and ensure knowledge management strategy is implemented for continuous learning, lessons and long-term sustainability and widely disseminated to support the scaling up and replication of GEF investments project results. 

Additional mandatory GEF-specific M&E requirements will be undertaken in accordance with the GEF Monitoring Policy and the GEF Evaluation Policy and other relevant GEF policies. The M&E plan and budget included below will guide the GEF-specific M&E activities to be undertaken by this project. The plan will be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure that the project is adaptive and responsive to any emerging risks and challenges. Likewise, the GEF Operational Focal Point will ensure consistency in the approach taken to the GEF-specific M&E requirements (notably the GEF Tracking Tools).  

In addition to these mandatory UNDP and GEF M&E requirements, other M&E activities deemed necessary to support project-level adaptive management will be agreed – including during the Project Inception Workshop - and will be detailed in the Inception Report.  

Minimum project monitoring and reporting requirements as required by the GEF: 

Inception Workshop and Report: A project inception workshop will be held within two months from the First disbursement date, with the aim to: 

1. Familiarize key stakeholders with the detailed project strategy and discuss any changes that may have taken place in the overall context since the project idea was initially conceptualized that may influence its strategy and implementation. 

2. Discuss roles and responsibilities of the project team, including reporting lines, stakeholder engagement strategies and conflict resolution mechanisms. 

3. Review the results framework and monitoring plan. 

4. Discuss reporting, monitoring and evaluation roles and responsibilities and finalize the M&E budget; identify national/regional institutes to be involved in project-level M&E; discuss the role of the GEF OFP and other stakeholders in project-level M&E.

5. Update and review responsibilities for monitoring of project strategies, including the risk log; SESP report, Social and Environmental Management Framework (where relevant) and other safeguard requirements; project grievance mechanisms; gender strategy; knowledge management strategy, and other relevant management strategies.

6. Review financial reporting procedures and budget monitoring and other mandatory requirements and agree on the arrangements for the annual audit. 

7. Plan and schedule Project Board meetings and finalize the first-year annual work plan. Finalize the TOR of the Project Board.

8. Formally launch the Project. 

Annual GEF Project Implementation Reports (PIR):

The annual GEF PIR covering the reporting period July (previous year) to June (current year) will be completed for each year of project implementation. UNDP will undertake quality assurance of the PIR before submission to the GEF. 

The LDCF Core indicators will be used to monitor global environmental benefits and will be updated for reporting to the GEF prior to MTR and TE.  

An independent mid-term review (MTR) will be completed by the mid-point of the project.  

An independent terminal evaluation (TE) will take place upon completion of all major project outputs and activities. The TE will be submitted to GEF no later than six months after the Completion Date.  

The MTR and final TE reports will be independent, impartial and rigorous; publicly available in English; and posted on the UNDP ERC. 

Final Report:

The project’s final GEF PIR along with the terminal evaluation (TE) report and corresponding management response will serve as the final project report package. The final project report package shall be discussed with the Project Board during an end-of-project review meeting to discuss lesson learned and opportunities for scaling up.