Blog

Addressing climate change and conserving forests go hand-in-hand, but what does that look like in practice? This blog outlines six approaches for using the power of nature to address the climate crisis.

• 11/16/2022
• Neeha Mian

With agriculture driving deforestation, global climate protection and biodiversity conservation goals seem to collide with the drive to produce more food. Researchers warn of an impending “food security-biodiversity-climate” crisis and “looming land scarcity.”

• 10/12/2021
• Daniel Evans

Efforts are underway to secure land titles for community members who want to access the irrigation system. Proof of land ownership is required to gain access to irrigated water.

• 08/05/2021
• USAID Greening Prey Lang

Rwanda is among the smallest countries in mainland Africa, roughly the size of Maryland with twice the population. Less land area means harder decisions, such as balancing land allocated for agriculture versus areas designated for forest conservation.

• 07/14/2021
• Phoebe Oduor, Jake Ramthun

Cocoa certification may not be doing its job. The expansion of the international cocoa industry across the world’s tropical regions has caused significant destruction of tropical forests, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and destroying habitat.

• 03/11/2021
• David Miller

The Climatelinks photo contest received an impressive total of 170 submissions from the Climatelinks community, representing more than 40 countries.

• 12/03/2019
• Steve Hardeman

This month we are exploring what it means to build local capacity to address climate change. Building local capacity starts with an understanding of the local stakeholders’ needs.

• 09/10/2019
• Isabela Barriga

Measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) are essential for transparency between countries as they track their greenhouse gas emissions. By emphasizing common standards, MRV ensures that countries are on the same page when it comes to the methodologies they use.

• 08/01/2019
• Stephan Hardeman

Integrating biodiversity and sustainable landscapes objectives in development programming can increase the sustainability of interventions, amplify results and reduce costs. ‘Integrating Biodiversity and Sustainable Landscapes in USAID Programming’ highlights these and other key considerations for USAID staff and development practitioners interested in connections between biodiversity and sustainable landscapes priorities.

• 04/23/2019
• Catherine Wahlen, Jennifer Kane

In the West Gonja and Sene districts of northern and central Ghana, respectively, deforestation caused by charcoal production is affecting sustainable livelihoods.

• 10/18/2018
• SERVIR

With collaboration between Winrock, the Government of Vietnam and the private sector, Vietnam’s payments for forest environmental services has the potential to be a model for other countries struggling to conserve forest areas — and a way to help people live more secure and prosperous lives.

• 02/28/2018
• Lauren Keller, Nga Dang

USAID is building mutually beneficial partnerships with private sector actors that leverage their respective expertise, assets, technologies, networks and resources to achieve greater development impact.

• 02/26/2018
• Climatelinks

In their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), 92 developing countries mentioned livestock-related emissions, and 48 of the 92 explicitly mentioned intentions to reduce emissions from livestock-related sources such as enteric fermentation, manure management and biogas, and grasslands and silvopastoral systems. But how do countries plan to document reduced emissions?

• 10/12/2017
• Julianna White

The Commodities and Forests Agenda 2020 report, launched September 19 by the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 and World Economic Forum, lays out 10 priority areas that company executives, policy-makers and civil society leaders should focus on to accelerate progress in addressing commodity-driven deforestation.

• 09/22/2017
• Climatelinks

In March, we focused on USAID’s approach to improving sustainable land managment for climate change resilience and mitigation, and the use of mobile technology to strengthen land tenure and management. 

• 03/28/2017
• Climatelinks