A $40 million loan will benefit 5,477 homes in the Rocha and Alpacoma basins 

Bolivia will seek to improve its resilience to climate events through the reduction of risks in disaster-prone areas with a $40 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). 

The loan is expected to benefit 5,477 households in the management and sustainable use of natural capital in the most vulnerable areas of the Rocha and Alpacoma river basins, in the departments of Cochabamba and La Paz. 

Bolivia is one of the countries in the Andean region most vulnerable to natural disasters. From 1970 to 2016, it was affected by 70 disasters that caused the death of more than 1,500 people and impacted the lives of 7.7 million Bolivians. The disasters caused serious economic consequences due to their negative effects on the productive capacity of the country, especially affecting the poorest. 

The project will support studies that will help design risk reduction actions as well as climate change adaptation measures. Among other things, it will finance adaptation works based on ecosystems such as gabions, dam protection structures, flood regulation systems, river recovery, slope stabilization, control of drainage and erosion, reforestation, reservoirs for laminating avenues and canalization works. It will also improve the knowledge of public entities responsible for the identification of climate risks, land planning and management of public investment in Bolivia. 

The IDB lending includes a $34 million loan from the Bank’s ordinary capital with an amortization period of 20.5 years, a grace period of 7.5 years and an interest rate based on LIBOR, as well as a $6 million concessional credit with a repayment term of 40 years, a grace period of 40 years and an interest rate of 0.25 percent.