General

From 2013-2017, Asia Justice and Rights and the Papuan Women’s Working Group, a network of local organizations, conducted participatory action research involving 170 indigenous Papuan women to document the experiences of violence against indigenous women. One of the key findings was the lack of security related to tenure for natural resources and traditional lands, which impedes women’s empowerment and makes indigenous women vulnerable to continued violence and discrimination. A critical issue raised by Papuan women was weakening land rights and shrinking access to natural resources. Of the women involved in the research, 50% had experienced loss to their land, gardens, or forest due to land use change and government policy, or as an impact of a violent conflict. Building on the research findings, this project will develop the capacity of indigenous Papuan women in understanding their status of rights over land and natural resources. Post-conflict, Papua was granted special autonomy status in 2001, with provisions to ensure greater political and economic power to the indigenous Papuans. However, local people, especially women, have limited knowledge of mechanisms that were set up to include local voices in policymaking. This work carries the promise of systematically building capacity by developing a set of tools to assist Papuans, particularly women, to understand and assess the relevant challenges, develop appropriate strategies, and link to counterparts and institutions that can assist them. There is a clear need and demand for this work and a clear connection with national policy debates.

Objectives

To generate and use knowledge products to stimulate investments to support Parties to the UNCCD to successfully implement the Abidjan Legacy Program.

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

1. It is reteirated here that this project is cross-cutting knowledge management and learning pillar and precursor of the Legacy Program of the COP that will focus on transforming production systems of target value chains (cocoa, coffee, palm oil, cashew and cotton, among others) including making them more resilient to climate change , inclusive and mitigate their contribution to land degradation and deforestation. Therefore, it is designed to support the overall implementation of the Legacy Program. In increasing access to knowledge and appropriate tools and innovations, participating coun tries and the private sector will make better informed decisions in the AFOLU business sector. Thus, in this regard, the MSP will contribute to reducing or arresting trends in deforestation and associated land degradation of targeted agricultural value chains, while supporting livelihoods of local communities that directly depend on the integrity of forests and soil fertility to survive. Improved forests and reduced levels of land degradation have positive impacts on biodiversity but also reduce carbon emissions that result from particularly agriculture, but also generally, from land use change. 2. As a principally knowledge-generation and exchange focused project to support the implementation of the Legacy Program, the MSP is conceived to contribute to reducing land degradation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and GHG emissions associated with agricultural commodity value chains – thereby supporting livelihoods of communities that directly depend on land for their survival. 3. The MSP will generate and disseminate reliable information to support the integration of environmentally-friendly systems, such as those informed agroecology approach into agricultural commodity value chains in production landscapes across different biomes – facilitating the mainstreaming of different innovations, practices and technologies in production landscapes to increase food security, diversify agricultural livelihoods, reduce environmental degradation and biodiversity loss and increase soil carbon sequestration. 4. The MSP is a precursor of the Legacy Program to facilitate its implementation to achieve both environmental benefits as well as contributing to the socioeconomic wellbeing of local livelihoods. In its role as a cross-cutting knowledge management and learning pillar and precursor of the LP, the proposed MSP is poised to: · Support eight (8) events to foster national-level knowledge exchange and scaling up of SLM and LDN best practices; · Establish one community of practice with strengthened capacities targeted on climate resilient and low emission agricultural value chains, forest and land use; · Build capacities of direct beneficiaries of 30,000 individuals, inclusive across the gender divide to ensure 50% representation of both males and femals; · Produce knowledge products (on low emission agricultural value chains, forest and land use and technologies investments, financial models and instrument) and devise dissemination mechanisms to reach out to all relevant stakeholders in Côte d’Ivoire that will participate in the LP and beyond, including peer-reviewed publications. During the dissemination process of knowledge products and learning, the project will also involve GEF National Focal Points and the UNCCD National Focal Points. As noted by STAP, the involvement of the Focal Points will create a ‘knowledge and practice multiplier effect’ as they will be equipped with the right skills and understanding of how to define knowledge exchange needs and help develop, implement, measure, and report knowledge results[1]; and · Create one open access information platform for targeted investments to facilitate knowledge sharing and stimulate interest in investments in SLM and LDN in support of sustainability in priority value chains – this will also seek to learn and contribute to responding to the challenges in value chains e.g recurrent difficulties on the cocoa value chain in Côte d’Ivoire , carbon credit owners etc. 5. In consultation with other key stakeholders who include the GEF and the UNCCD Knowledge Hub, the creation of one open information will be informed by other existing knowledge information systems, user access and platform content – to best synergise through interoperability rather than duplicating efforts. 6. As a cross-cutting knowledge management and learning pillar and precursor, it should be noted that future projects, principally the LP will benefit from the MSP’s knowledge products and built capacities in production landscapes through maintaining or improving the flow of agro-ecosystem services to sustain food production and livelihoods; and reducing pressures on natural resources from competing land uses and increase resilience in the wider landscape. Overall, this will involve the use of SLM practices such as agroforestry, silvo-pastoral systems, agro-ecological intensification, and other practices. Production systems such as agroforestry, for example, support the generation of global environmental benefits through the preservation of biodiversity, carbon emissions avoided and carbon sequestration. Additionally, this helps to maintain important local ecosystem services including the provision of clean water for crops and communities – contributing to food and nutrition security, resilience, and livelihoods of local farmers. The role of the MSP as a cross-cutting knowledge and learning pillar of the LP cannot therefore, be underestimated in catalysizing the generation of socioeconomic and environmental benefits in production landscapes. 7. Consistent with the expectation that a GEF project will not cause any harm to environment or to any stakeholder and, where applicable, it will take measures to prevent and/or mitigate adverse effects, this project is a cross-cutting Knowledge Management and Learning Pillar of the LP. According to IFAD’s Environmental and social categorization and criteria, this is a Category C project – not requiring additional environmental analysis because the activities have positive environmental impacts, or negligible or minimally adverse environmental impacts.[2] [1] STAP (2021). Understanding South-South Cooperation for Knowledge Exchange [2] IFAD (2017) Social, Environmental and Climate Assessment Procedures (SECAP): Managing risks to create opportunities

Objectives

Conservation, sustainable use and securing of the national and globally significant agrobiodiversity and the associated knowledge and cultural aspects of traditional agro-ecosystems of Tajikistan.

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

Tajikistan is at the heart of one of eight global Centres of Crop Diversity[1] and as such has a wealth of crop landrace and Crop Wild Relative importance that is global as well as national importance in sustaining food security and human wellbeing. Such diversity is increasingly threatened from environment change and land management intensification globally[2] and specifically in Tajikistan[3] and therefore, active conservation will also have global and national benefits. The conservation value of Tajik agrobiodiversity is significant and provides many essential ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitats and recreational, opportunities but the core benefit is to underpinning provisioning services through sustaining crop improvement and promoting diversification. The scenic, cultural and historic value of the Tajik environment is not only economic, but the quality of life benefits cherished by the people of Tajikistan. The Global Environmental Benefits (GEBs) that will result from GEF’s biodiversity financing and project implementation will include: Conservation of globally significant biodiversity; and Sustainable use of the components of globally significant biodiversity. The project will also: · Promote gender equalities in terms of men’s and women’s participation in decision making and/or their differential access to productive resources, services and markets including 2,370 (1,185 men and 1,185 women) direct beneficiaries · Promote the sustainable use of GR and neglected species · Promote the on-farm conservation of landraces and the active conservations of CWR · Improve the access to Gene bank material to farmers, breeder and researchers · Add at least 400 seed accessions of 30 crops and 200 CWR established in seed bank and 400 LR and 100 CWR accessions characterized and evaluated · Strengthen the national technical capacity in sustainable use of agrobiodiversity · Support new business models for biodiversity products including new microfinancing lines for farmers allowing them to new and innovative business models · Generate and improve knowledge on traditional crop landrace and crop wild relative diversity · Promote traditional and local knowledge [1] Vavilov, N.I., 1926. Tzentry proiskhozhdeniya kulturnykhrastenii. [The centres of origin of cultivated plants]. Works of Applied Botany and Plant Breeding, 16(2), 248 P: [Russian, English]. [2] FAO, (2010). Second report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. Available online: http://www.fao.org/agriculture/seed/sow2/en/ [Accessed 25 July 2013]. [3] FAO, 2008. State of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in the Republic of Tajikistan.