FAO-led projects to make agriculture resilient and sustainable in support of 1 million people

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved eight projects led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) worth nearly $60 million designed to help seven countries improve their management of agricultural landscapes, promote climate-friendly and biodiversity-positive livestock production, and restore forest, coastal, and marine ecosystems.

The projects will leverage approximately $429 million in co-financing and will improve the management of 305,000 hectares of protected areas on land and sea. They will also restore 314,000 hectares of landscapes, improve the management of 1.2 million hectares of productive land, and mitigate 84.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, benefitting over 1 million people across four continents.

A $2 billion milestone

Since 2006, FAO has played a key role as an implementing agency of the GEF, a facility which includes several multilateral funds working together to address the planet's most pressing challenges in an integrated way.

To date, the FAO-GEF partnership has enabled 142 countries to access vital environmental financing for agrifood system solutions. With this latest work program, approved during this week’s GEF Council meeting, the FAO-GEF portfolio in support of environment, climate and biodiversity action through agriculture and food systems in countries surpasses $2 billion in grants and leverages over $14 billion in co-financing.

“Our portfolio and partnership with GEF have become more integrated and impactful over the years for more effective delivery on the Four Betters - better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “We are ready to continue partnering with countries to access critical financing to transform their agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient, and more sustainable.”

Approved projects

• $2.4 million investment in Tanzania that expands efforts under the Food Systems Integrated Program to include rice, aquaculture and livestock systems on Zanzibar’s Western Belts landscapes.
•  $6 million project in the Democratic Republic of Congo to help restore degraded forests and farmlands in the Miombo woodlands for improved biodiversity, livelihoods, and resilience.
• $9.2 million project in Bangladesh that will work with the government and village conservation groups to support the restoration, sustainable use, and conservation of biodiversity in three ecologically critical ecosystems.
• $5.4 million project in Ukraine to restore and bolster accessible forests and agroforestry systems for climate resilience, ecosystem services, and green recovery from the impacts of conflict.
• $9.9 million project in India to improve integrated landscape management across 2.9 million hectares of protected areas, forests, and productive landscapes in Central India, home to half of India’s tiger’s reserves.
• $8.8 million project in India to reduce land degradation and enhance the climate and livelihood resilience of smallholder livestock keepers through landscape restoration, sustainable land management, and greening dairy value chains.
• $8 million project in Mexico, funded through the GEF’s Policy Coherence window, to develop the country’s first national livestock policy to align planning, incentives, and investments across agricultural, environmental and financial sectors towards deforestation-free and low emission livestock production.
• $8.9 million project in Senegal, funded through the Least Developed Countries Fund, to strengthen the climate resilience of coastal communities and marine ecosystems through the sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture development, and ecosystem restoration.

“These projects turn ambition into action,” said GEF Chairperson and CEO Carlos Manuel Rodríguez. “By prioritizing sustainable practices and policy coherence, we are strengthening food system resilience, enhancing biodiversity and ecosystems, and supporting improved livelihoods.”

Additional projects approved

Between June and December, prior to the eight projects approved this week, the GEF had greenlit 14 FAO-led projects totaling $19.7 million in GEF investments and $75 million in co-financing. These medium-sized projects are supporting the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, enhancing coordination for water security and climate resilience in Central Asia, assisting countries to meet reporting requirements under the Paris Agreement, advancing Land Degradation Neutrality, and advancing transformation of agrifood systems in key value chains.

Separately, $6 million were allocated under the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund for project concepts in the Cook Islands, Timor-Leste, and Mauritius. These initiatives aim to restore native species of cultural significance threatened by invasive species and climate change, promote the sustainable use of biodiversity within agrifood systems, and rehabilitate coastal and marine ecosystems across the three Small Island Developing States.

Collectively, these investments will help countries restore over 12,000 hectares of land, enhance management of 393,000 hectares of landscapes, and mitigate 20 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, while bolstering food security and ultimately benefiting 354,000 people.