As the climate crisis becomes ever more serious, each Earth Day that comes along takes on extra significance. This year’s theme is Restore Our Earth, which focuses not only on recovering from the effects of COVID-19, but implementing nature-based solutions that will have lasting, transformative impacts on our planet.
While scientists confirm that climate change and loss of biodiversity are irrefutable, they also emphasize that it’s not too late to stem the tide. Finding sustainable, resilient solutions will require innovative thinking in all aspects of society — how we grow food, obtain our energy, use land, and dispose of chemicals and waste.
Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has stressed the need to invest in the protection and rehabilitation of nature to support a clean, resilient, green, and blue pandemic recovery. In a recent blog, he compared the challenges of 2021 to the waves he’s accustomed to surfing in his free time. He wrote, “It is 100 percent possible to balance the needs of the population with the needs of the planet. Like two feet on the board.”
This Earth Day, the GEF is highlighting nine initiatives from its most recent work program, designed to help developing countries across the world protect and regenerate nature in the wake of COVID-19.
Protecting sea turtles and seagrass in Madagascar
Sea turtles play a critical role in Madagascar, a global biodiversity hotspot. They naturally clean up and help maintain the health of marine ecosystems, particularly seagrass meadows and coral reefs. Due to environmental pressures such as global warming, coastal development, pollution, and wildlife trafficking, sea turtle populations have declined sharply in recent years. A new GEF-funded project, implemented by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), is supporting efforts by Madagascar’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to protect the country’s sea turtles and seagrass meadows from a host of human-caused threats. The link between biodiversity loss and the rise of zoonotic diseases is more apparent than ever before. This initiative aims to harness this awareness to convene community members, scientists, and policy-makers to cooperate and take action on the conservation of these keystone species for the benefit of people and our planet.
In Benin, investing in mangroves for climate resilience
Mangrove forests are key sources of food, fuel, and income for many coastal communities living in the West African country of Benin. They help protect coastal habitats from wave and wind erosion, reduce pollutant levels in the water, and safeguard near-shore reefs. All of these benefits are at risk of being lost as wetlands and lagoons continue to shrink. To counteract the loss of these vital mangrove forests, the GEF’s Least Developed Countries Fund is supporting a new project led by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that will enable communities along Benin’s southern coast to restore and sustainably manage endangered mangrove forests. The goal is to protect and restore 120,000 hectares of Benin’s mangrove ecosystems and provide the means for 250,000 men and women to find alternative, biodiversity-friendly livelihoods.
The Gambia invests in valuing and safeguarding biodiversity
The Gambia, the smallest country in mainland Africa, is home to significant biodiversity, including a wide range of medicinal plants that Gambian people depend upon for their health and livelihoods. Forests, critical habitats for these medicinal herbs, are under-managed and being depleted by the push for wood harvesting. Under a new initiative supported by the GEF and UNEP, The Gambia intends to protect its valuable ecosystems by fully implementing the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing.
Safeguarding iconic threatened species and their habitats
As one of the seventeen megadiverse countries in the world, China harbors nearly ten percent of all plant species and fourteen percent of vertebrate animals found on Earth. A new initiative funded by the GEF and led by the United Nations Development Programme and the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration aims to conserve critical habitat of five iconic wildlife species: the giant panda, the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, the Western black crested gibbon, the Indochinese gray langur, and the stump-tailed macaque. Through landscape restoration and the creation of ecological corridors, the initiative will help preserve the habitats of these primate species in Yunnan Province and Giant Panda National Park.
Using all tools to protect Chile’s varied ecosystems
Chile’s central region has been designated as one of five South American biodiversity hotspots because of its wealth of unique plant species. The region is home to more than 3,800 native species of vascular plants, more than half found nowhere else on earth. In recent years, Chile’s vast and varied landscapes have been negatively impacted by deforestation, forest fires, drought, and rapid urban growth. To counter these pressures, the GEF is financing a new FAO-led project that will protect vulnerable ecosystems and species where they are most threatened, as the South American country recovers from the COVID-19 crisis. The project’s main objects are to advance landscape restoration through stronger regulatory and policy responses, increase investment in agroforestry, and improve knowledge-sharing related to biodiversity loss mitigation.
Bolstering biosafety in Southern Africa
While genetically modified organisms such as seeds and plants have been viewed as possible solutions to disease resistance and satisfying growing food demands, they may also pose threats to biodiversity in some of the most species-rich regions in the world. With support from the GEF, UNEP will work with the Regional Agricultural and Environmental Innovations Africa and government ministries across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and Namibia to bolster biosafety frameworks. The goal of this initiative is to ensure that these South African countries continue to benefit from modern biotechnology whilst safeguarding their biodiversity.
Supporting national efforts to restore Azerbaijan’s degraded lands
Land degradation is well underway in Azerbaijan, where the agriculture sector employs more than a third of the country’s working population. In the absence of sustainable land management practices, the country is experiencing depleted lands and increased vulnerability to food crises. In an effort to reduce rising food security threats and support sustainable land management practices, the GEF is financing a new initiative that will strengthen Azerbaijan’s land health policies. The initiative, to be led by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and FAO, will teach local farmers to engage with sustainable practices and increase their crop yields. As Azerbaijan’s degraded lands are restored, there will be additional co-benefits for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation.
Keeping the lights on for off-grid providers in Africa
Over the past decade, approximately 200 million clean energy products have been sold to households in Africa seeking to reduce their reliance on kerosene lamps, diesel generators, and other environmentally damaging energy sources. For companies offering off-grid solar home systems and mini grids, the opportunity is huge: hundreds of millions of people in Africa are interested in upgrading to cheaper, cleaner technologies. Unfortunately, the pandemic has disrupted supply chains, made travel more difficult, and increased currency risk, ultimately halting progress towards the clean energy shift in Africa. In an effort to keep the economic fallout from COVID-19 from reversing progress toward cleaner household energy, the GEF and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa are investing in a financing platform that will provide loans for firms selling medium and small-scale energy solutions across Africa. The platform is expected to support 27 megawatts of renewable energy generation and benefit 2.5 million people, all while leading to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.
Investing in land health for sustainable recovery
The Bahamas is a biodiversity hotspot with over 1,100 species of vascular plants and 406 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. Recent strains on Bahamian land have impacted land health in the archipelago of 700 islands and cays. Deforestation, mining, and freshwater pollution have led to biodiversity loss and food insecurity amidst the global pandemic. To protect these ecosystems and ensure food availability, the country has partnered with the GEF and UNEP to invest in more climate-resilient and regenerative food production practices. As it gets underway, the initiative will seek to introduce regenerative agricultural practices to a total of 10,000 hectares of land on seven target islands.
