GCA to Help Climate-Proof Malawi’s Strategic Transport Network Under World Bank’s RESTORE Project
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otterdam, the Netherlands, 4th September 2025 — The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) announced today it will support the Government of Malawi and the World Bank to embed climate resilience across Malawi’s road system through the Resilient and Strategic Transport Operational Enhancement (RESTORE) Project. The programme focuses on the Lower Shire Valley—one of the country’s most climate-exposed regions—while strengthening national systems so climate risk is hard-wired into how roads are planned, built and maintained.
Malawi is on the front lines of the climate crisis. Since 1980, the country has suffered more than fifty recorded disasters including floods, storms, landslides and droughts. In 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy affected an estimated two million people, causing around US$110 million in transport infrastructure damage and approximately US$500 million in total damage and losses. The Lower Shire Valley, a breadbasket and trade lifeline, sits at low elevation and faces recurrent river-flood risk that routinely severs access to markets, schools and health facilities.
GCA will contribute upstream analytics and hands-on technical assistance to the project to ensure resilience moves from a concept to an operational reality. Central to GCA’s support is mainstreaming cost-effective adaptation and resilience measures for long-term climate resilience and operational sustainability of the road network. This includes multi-hazard climate risk analysis and mapping at national, corridor and asset levels to quantify both direct damage to road assets and indirect impacts on access to essential services. GCA will also help prioritise and appraise cost-effective adaptation measures—ranging from improved drainage, culvert and bridge protection ato nature-based solutions such as slope stabilisation and catchment-level solutions. The Center will also work with Malawi’s transport authorities to to mainstream climate resilience in Malawi’s transport asset lifecycle by providing detailed recommendations and procurement support for a climate-informed national roads asset management system (RAMS) and updates to design standards, , ensuring resilience is institutionalised rather than treated as a one-off project feature. Capacity-building is also a central pillar with GCA delivering targeted training, including a masterclass on climate-resilient infrastructure, to engineers and officials to embed climate-informed planning and maintenance practices across the sector.
“As Malawi’s climate risks intensify, keeping roads open is about safeguarding lives and livelihoods,” said Professor Patrick V. Verkooijen, President and CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation. “Together with the Government of Malawi and the World Bank, GCA is translating climate science into practical design standards, investments and maintenance routines. That means better analytics to identify hotspots, nature-based and engineered solutions that protect assets and the institutional reforms needed so every kwacha invested works harder for resilience—today and for decades to come.”
RESTORE will channel these analytics and standards into concrete investments, including improvements to the M1 corridor (Thabwa–Chikwawa–Bangula) and feeder road S152, reconstruction of climate-vulnerable bridges, upgraded drainage, dyke protection and systematic road-safety measures—such as iRAP-informed interventions around schools and pedestrian zones. In parallel, the project advances a modernised RAMS, strengthens design and materials-testing capacities, and aligns national technical standards with climate projections. Preparatory work will also support intermodal integration with the historic Sena rail line to reduce transport costs and emissions over time.
The programme is expected to deliver tangible results over 2025–2030 including climate-resilient upgrades across approximately 150 kilometres of roads to reduce weather-related closures; safer, more reliable connectivity for more than 500,000 people to markets, schools and health services; and lasting institutional capability through climate-informed asset management, updated design standards and structured training that lock resilience into future investment cycles. Community-level works near project roads—such as improved market spaces, safer pedestrian routes and lighting— will be designed to enhance livelihoods and safety, with a focus on women and youth.
By coupling asset-level investments with national systems reform, RESTORE aims to set a new benchmark for climate-resilient transport in Malawi—protecting critical corridors, reducing economic losses from extreme weather and helping the country maintain connectivity in the face of escalating climate shocks.
