General

The initiative and future like-minded interventions, will result in that indigenous peoples and local communities in particular women and youth, have claimed a central role as empowered innovators, implementers and advocates for territorial governance and climate solutions that benefit people and nature in priority landscapes in Latin America. The project is a project support and will address socio-environmental issues that are critical for transboundary nature protection (mainly biological diversity and climate) in Latin America. It will focus on three key transboundary landscapes in Latin America, where WWF will aim to involve, empower, strengthen their voice, and pursue greater equity for IPLCs to be active in the pursuit of sustainable development that benefits people and nature.These landscapes are home to indigenous and local communities, who can play a key role in sustainable development, but whose human rights are often not adequately respected or implemented, including their right to land, access to information and participation in decision making processes. These communities often do not have the necessary prerequisites to amplify their voices and have a more prominent role in policy influencing. The landscapes selected also provide a useful context for addressing gender equality because IPLC women are often excluded for decision making processes. The lack of economic opportunities for IPLCs in these places particular pressure on women who are often left in the community with children when men migrate to the city in search of employment. The project aims to implement measures to address these inequality and challenges. From a regional and environmental management perspective, the focus on these transboundary landscapes will add value because it makes it possible to implement similar approaches and actions in each country and address connectivity needs between protected areas and across borders. Combining a landscape approach and regional coordination will lead to more effective conservation of biodiversity and benefits for people, which cannot be achieved through purely national interventions. It will be possible to scale up impacts through shared learning, building alliances across borders for policy influencing and work with organizations that transcend national borders Three main strategies will orient the course of this project: a) income-generating activities that promote sustainable livelihoods for men, women and their families, b) building capacities and alliances of rightsholders’ organizations, and c) advocacy for equitable climate and nature solutions. This project contributes to WWF global goals for Forest and Governance, the strategic plans of the WWF offices involved in this proposal and is aligned with the objectives in the strategy for Sweden’s regional development cooperation with Latin America 2021–2025.

Objectives

The project has three main outcomes with associated short- , medium, and long -term objectives: 1. Income generating activities that promote sustainable livelihoods, human wellbeing , and natural resource management - By 2024, at least 15 income generating activities are prioritized with rightholders. - By 2025, at least 8 income generating activities are being implemented with adaptive management considerations. - By 2026, At least 5,000 IPLC people participating in income generating activities. 2. Building capacities and alliances of rightsholders for more empowered territorial governance - By 2023, at least 15 IPLC organizations (5 per landscape) trained in organizationaland financial management and territorial governance. - By 2024, at least 30 IPLC will be trained on advocacy and leadership. - By 2025, at least 6 alliances (2 per landscape) between IPLCs and other key stakeholders should be established to support equittable climate and nature solutions 3. IPLCs have a stronger voice for equittable climate and nature solutions - By 2025 at least 15 IPLC organizations have amplified their voices in public debate for equitable climate and nature solutions

General

The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is crucial for the Vietnamese agri-food sector. It is the most agriculturally productive region of the country, in particular for rice, aquaculture and fruit production. The Mekong Delta produces enough food for almost 200 million people; any significant reduction in agricultural output would have consequences for global food security. However, the agricultural sector is unsustainable. Although the livestock sector is not the main production sector, it contributes substantially to the negative environmental impacts such as emissions to water and air, land degradation, land subsidence from groundwater extraction and inefficient freshwater use. At the same time, the sector is also suffering from the effects of climate change. The main effects are salinization, heat stress, longer and more extreme periods of rainfall and drought seasons causing a lack of fresh water, decreasing harvests and harvest losses of feed production and severe heat stress. Given the current challenges of unsustainable livestock production and the effects of climate change, it will be difficult for the livestock sector to maintain its current growth rate if its existing development model continues. Additionally, climate-resilient livestock farming needs to be introduced, increased and improved to face the current challenges of food insecurity, environmental degradation and climate change.The present project implemented by the Wageningen University and Research (WUR) will review the sustainability, productivity, and resource efficiency of livestock production, to develop production systems appropriate under climate change conditions.

Objectives

In response to the Climate Smart Jobs (CSJ) Programme Component 4: Climate Smart Land Management and Services, Mercy Corps and partners propose the Restoring Ecological Vitality In Vulnerable Ecosystems (REVIVE) programme, which will support both smallholder farmers vulnerable to climate change and key market system actors to adopt more sustainable land management approaches, increasing productivity and incomes and reducing environmental risks for entire communities. The ultimate aim is to support the flow of finance, skills and knowledge to allow small and medium farmer communities to become the stewards of their own ecosystems: to ensure commercial viability and to design incentives that will work to restore and protect at the ecosystem watershed or landscape levels. REVIVE will also engage the customer base for CSLMS to incentivise the level of demand necessary to scale these products and services and enable extra finance through carbon trading when feasible. By facilitating investments into entrepreneurial farmers, our approach will enable farmers to invest in additional sustainable land management activities to improve their ecosystem management and thus realise quicker financial returns.