Just over a year ago, during the UN’s Stockholm+50 international meeting, the Climate Investments Funds announced the launch of the Nature, People and Climate (NPC) investment program. Today, during CIF’s 15th anniversary event in Brasilia, Brazil, three new partner countries – Brazil, Ethiopia, and Rwanda – were announced as receiving NPC funding for implementation of projects. These countries, in addition to the five programs approved in November 2022 (Dominican Republic, Fiji, Egypt, Kenya, and Africa’s Zambezi River Basin Region - Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania), will draw on CIF’s concessional resources to generated climate change mitigation and adaptation outcomes through Nature-based Solutions approaches. The program also confirmed approval of a financing window to provide at least $40m in direct support to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) through the Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) that was first piloted in the CIF’s Forest Investment Program (FIP).
Through support from Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Spain, NPC will now be able to allocate $370 million in funds to the eight recipient programs. These programs will work to protect, manage and restore natural environments integral to climate action but supporting sustainable agriculture and food supply, healthy forests, resilient coastal systems, and empowering Indigenous peoples and local communities.
Brazil
With NPC funding, the Brazilian government plans to build on the nearly $100 million in financing CIF allocated through FIP, which has been active in the country since 2012. FIP is hailed as the most important ongoing socioenvironmental program in the Cerrado biome, which is the second largest in the country. Brazil is home to a third of global forests and is the world’s most biodiverse country with 70 percent of known animal and plant species. Today, 180 Indigenous communities, representing 200,000 people, live in Brazil. With the help of these communities, the country wants to achieve zero illegal deforestation by 2028 and net zero emission by 2023. NPC will help in conserving and recovering degraded ecosystems notably with agroforestry; investing in bioeconomy and sustainable value chains; and promoting low carbon agriculture production.
Ethiopia
Like Brazil, Ethiopia features exceptional biodiversity, with an altitudinal gradient ranging from 120-meter below sea level in the Afar region to 4620 meter above sea level at Ras Dashen. But the country faces land degradation that generates food insecurity, including for Indigenous peoples. One of Ethiopia’s most precious ecosystems are the Dry Afromontane forests, where NPC programming could benefit over 350,000 people while generating benefits of avoided emissions of 52 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Socio-economic and environmental vulnerability has been high in Ethiopia during the past two decades and is magnified by climate change: drought affects tens of millions of smallholders and pastoral communities, and ecosystems disruption intensify food insecurity. But Ethiopia is fighting back: over the past four years alone, the country has mobilized millions of citizens and planted over 20 billion seedlings.
Rwanda
In Rwanda, the most densely populated country in mainland Africa, pressure on land is high. Deforestation in Rwanda’s hilly landscape is rampant, causing high erosion and loss of precious topsoil in farmland. Rwanda has reached 30% forest cover and seeks to promote trees on farm and buffer areas around national parks. For example, stronger community involvement around the Virunga, Gishwati-Mukura, and Nyungwe National Parks, and the Kivu and Nyabarongo catchments could better protect forest cover, biodiversity and farmer livelihoods.
With 55 developing countries spanning six continents and representing over two billion people formally applying for NPC funding in 2022, demand for Nature-based Solutions is clearly very high. NPC is now also supporting Namibia and Zambia with funding for investment plan preparations with the hope that further funding can be secured for project implementation in these countries and perhaps others.