Turkey: Water Efficiency and Climate Resilience for Results Program (Results-Based Financing)

proposed

While contributing to approximately 5% of GDP, the agriculture sector in Turkey remains a vital component of the economy that sustains food security, rural livelihoods and exports. This sector is heavily dependent on irrigation, which triples productivity compared with rain-fed agriculture. The sector faces significant challenges: climate variability increasingly causes droughts and floods that disrupt production, and aging irrigation infrastructure limits efficient water use and delivery. Over the past 40 years, successive national governments have tried to mitigate the uneven distribution of water resources and rainfall by increasing access to irrigation, because of which the gross irrigated area has grown from 2.3 million hectares in the 1970s to about 6 million hectares today. Expansion and modernization of irrigation, along with other investments for increasing agricultural productivity, remain a priority agenda for Turkey. To address these challenges Turkey had put in place a comprehensive water efficiency and climate adaptation program supported by the World Bank and a few other key development partners through interventions in various sub-sectors, but the needs of the country for sustainable water infrastructure are rapidly increasing. Above all, Turkey plans to rehabilitate its irrigation system, prevent climate induced floods, minimize non-revenue water, enhance its water storage capacity, increase the very low water reuse levels, and reduce water pollution especially in the industrial sector. Turkey's 12th Development Plan (2024-2028) and DSI Strategic Plan (2024-2028) outlay six priority areas: (a) drinking, utility and industrial water; (b) flood management; (c) effective and efficient use of water; (d) research, improvement and monitoring of water resources; (e) hydroelectric energy; and (f) institutional capacity for the next five years. The proposed RBP is designed to finance a slice of the overall Strategic Plan and will include two major components in support of the DSI Strategic Plan: (a) upgrading irrigation services for optimized water use efficiency and (b) strengthening climate resilience of the flood protection and management infrastructure, people and land in the flood-prone areas. Climate change also intensifies droughts and floods, causing a general decrease in total precipitation, mostly in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions, and an increase in dry days in the Central Anatolia to Aegean regions. Several regions of Turkey remain highly susceptible to seasonal floods, often resulting in widespread damage to agricultural fields, infrastructure and residential areas. High rainfall is anticipated in the region of the Black Sea coast which is surrounded by steep mountains. Flood damage in these areas has worsened impacts by intense rainfall events, urban expansion, soil degradation and inadequate flood-management infrastructure. Consequently, the Government of Turkey plans to (a) modernize irrigation infrastructure to promote climate-resilient, water-efficient irrigation systems and (b) enhance flood protection capacity through the development and rehabilitation of flood protection infrastructure. These objectives are aligned with the Government's 12th Development Plan (2024-2028) and DSI Strategic Plan (2024-2028) and are based on the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action plan (2024-2030) and Water Efficiency Strategy (2023-2030). By expanding modern irrigation systems and strengthening flood protection capacity, the proposed Results-Based Program (RBP) will make Turkey's water management systems more efficient, resilient and sustainable. The RBP will be implemented in five years. The financing for the RBP will link disbursements to measurable outcomes such as land areas with climate-resilient irrigation services, climate-resilient infrastructure erected, and enhanced flood protection for safeguarding livelihoods, land and people.