World Bank announces plan to rehabilitate depleted forests

NAIROBI, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The world bank will contribute efforts to rehabilitate 85 million hectares of forests through tree planting and implementation of policies aiming to enhance the fight against climate change, the world bank's interim president Kristalina Georgieva said Thursday.

Addressing the opening ceremony of a high-level segment of UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Georgieva said the world bank Group would walk its talk on combating climate change through investments and policies to improve health, waste disposal and carbon emission reductions.

"We have to use all the tools at our disposal to fight climate change," the interim president said during the One Planet Summit where the bank announced its plans to step up its climate support for Africa.

The bank announced it would avail 22.5 billion U.S. dollars for Africa through the International Development Association (IDA), its fund for poor countries, to enhance climate adaptation and mitigation for the five years from 2021 to 2025.

"People across Africa are already experiencing the growing impacts of climate change. This region is particularly vulnerable to increasing floods, droughts and destructive storms," Georgieva said.

The amount pledged is more than double the commitment to climate-related projects over the last five years, the bank said.

The funds would help African countries manage the risks of a changing climate while unlocking new investment opportunities.

The bank's private sector arms would also continue to ambitiously grow their climate activities in Africa, Georgieva said.