Jun 01, 2022
Launched June 1, the Climate Investment Funds’ latest program– Nature, People and Climate Investment Program– will protect natural environments and improve livelihoods.
Founded on the principle that sustainable use of the Earth’s natural resources is essential to our health, food security, nutrition, and economic well-being, CIF’s Nature, People and Climate Investment Program advances people and nature as the solution our climate crisis. It will directly empower communities in developing countries to lead in driving climate change solutions.
Between 2007-2016, an estimated 23% of total greenhouse gas emissions were derived from agriculture, forestry, and other land use. These human activities significantly contribute to deforestation. The impacts of climate change further accelerate land and forest degradation, and biodiversity loss. As is increasingly the case, and as pointed out in April 2022’s sixth assessment report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, it’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who are closely tied to the land, that stand to lose out the most.
The Program will enable Indigenous and local communities to lead, implement, and shape climate action locally and around the world. It will replicate CIF’s successful Dedicated Grant Mechanism for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (DGM), which provides direct financing to sustainably manage natural resources, restore land access, and fight climate change using local and traditional knowledge. And it will scale investments wholistically rather than on a project-by-project basis.
The Program recognizes the complex interdependency between land use, climate change, and people. It aims to harness proven land management experiences and to accelerate sustainable practices while working alongside key regional, national, and local stakeholders to adapt and mitigate climate change. To date, Italy and Sweden have pledged to capitalize on this initiative.
Calls for Expressions of Interest from countries wishing to access funding is now open until August 1. Successful applicants will be provided with a wide-ranging, scaled-up and holistic support package to protect, restore, and connect a diversity of ecosystems across multiple landscapes.
In this, the United Nations Decade of Action and beyond, the Nature, People and Climate Investment Program hopes to make a significant contribution to securing a healthy planet and prosperity for all.
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