Blog

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

Countries in Asia are steadily addressing the need to reduce emissions through the deployment of market-based mechanisms (MBMs), such as carbon taxes, cap and trade programs, baseline and credit programs, and the development of renewable electricity and energy efficiency standards.

• 07/08/2019
• Emily Kent, Megha Kedia, Deborah Harris

“The water is pushing very hard on our islands and communities,” recounted the Bonthe Deputy Mayor, during a recent meeting with USAID staff in the southwestern district of Sierra Leone. His description captures the profound impacts that climate change is having on coastal communities.

• 04/29/2019
• Julia Bradley-Cook

Every day, Indonesian palm oil mills emit nearly 2,000 metric tons of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from the waste treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME), which cannot be discharged in its raw form. Though POME is waste byproduct of palm kernel milling, it can become an energy source when its biogas byproduct is harnessed for electricity production.

• 04/25/2019
• Joshua Forgotson

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

Food loss and waste account for approximately 8 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a result, this area presents opportunity for large reductions in emissions.

• 01/28/2019
• Julianna White and Noel Gurwick

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

Developed jointly with the Vietnam Ministry of Construction and officially approved in May 2017, GGAP aims to strengthen the foundation for low-emissions energy systems in Vietnam’s construction sector.

• 05/31/2018
• Climatelinks

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is commonly seen as a barrier to expanding electricity access in a cost-effective manner, but recent analyses conducted for Bangladesh suggest otherwise.

• 05/11/2018
• Climatelinks

From October 2016 to March 2018, experts from the USAID-funded Climate Economic Analysis for Development, Investment and Resilience (CEADIR) activity assessed the clean energy markets in eight West African countries and trained commercial banks interested in starting or scaling up clean energy lending on technologies and business models.

• 05/01/2018
• Edward Hoyt

How can countries ensure that the successes of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation initiatives are adequately captured and reflected in national GHG inventories?

• 04/19/2018
• Marian Van Pelt

Gender equality and women’s empowerment – particularly when it comes to ensuring that women and men have equal opportunities in accessing, benefiting from and participating in environmental decision-making – are essential for effective conservation and sustainable development.   

• 03/22/2018
• Lorena Aguilar, Corinne Hart

The asymmetry between men’s and women’s participation in forestry decision-making is often rooted in two inter-related issues. First, forestry institutions and forest resources are generally male-dominated and second, village-level decision-making takes place in the public sphere. Women are traditionally associated with the private sphere of home and family life.

• 03/08/2018
• Christi Hang

To help bolster both community and ecological resilience, USAID’s Hariyo Ban (Green Forests) program was established in 2011 to work in two biodiverse landscapes in Nepal: Terai Arc and Chitwan-Annapuran.

• 03/05/2018
• Climatelinks