Increasing CAR's Commitment to Forest and Landscape Restoration at the National and Sub-National Levels

The Restoration Initiative (TRI) in Central African Republic (CAR) is working to increase the commitment to forest and landscape restoration at the national and sub-national levels. To do so, they have initiated projects to fill the knowledge gaps in restoration opportunities and the valuation of ecosystem services and to develop policy and regulatory frameworks that increasingly promote restoration, sustainable land management, maintenance and enhancement of carbon stocks in forests. TRI CAR has found graduate students who are beginning to conduct research to fill the knowledge gaps that are needed for stronger policy networks, while a technical working group is working to identify restoration opportunities in the country. Additionally, TRI CAR has initiated the process of revising the country’s forest policy, reviewing and analyzing local development plans of forest communities, and facilitating the design of an upgraded national wood energy supply plan.

TRI is a GEF-funded project.

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Community-Led Blue Economy: Sustainable Visitor Management for Mangrove Eco-tourism in Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area

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Evidence for Nature-based Solutions: How Five Countries Built a Regionally Owned Environmental Database for Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria, shared by five East African countries, supports over 45 million people through fisheries, water supply, and agriculture. Declining water quality, rising pollution, and the absence of a shared evidence base made coordinated basin management difficult. To address this, the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), with GIZ support under the EAC4Nature project, developed the first-ever State of the Basin Report (SoBR).

The approach combines joint water quality sampling at 44 stations across three countries, consultations with all five Partner States – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, and integration of findings into the Lake Victoria Basin Water Information System (LVB-WIS).

The SoBR follows a five-year cycle as a shared baseline for planning, policy, and investment. It identifies Nature-based Solutions – wetland rehabilitation, reforestation, and catchment restoration – as the most cost-effective pathway to improve water quality and build climate resilience. All five Partner States endorsed the report.

Restoring Lake Hawassa: How Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Nature-Based Solutions reverse Catchment Degradation

In Ethiopia’s Rift Valley, Lake Hawassa faces accelerating degradation from deforestation, pollution, erosion and rapid urbanisation – pressures no single actor can address alone. This solution establishes an inclusive multi-stakeholder partnership uniting public authorities, private companies and civil society to protect the lake through coordinated catchment stewardship.

Guided by the Natural Resources Risk and Action Framework (NRAF) developed between 2015 and 2020, partners jointly assessed risks, planned actions and implemented nature-based solutions (NbS).

Key building blocks included:

Creating a multi-stakeholder platform,
Applying the NRAF,
Joint planning,
Ecohydrological restoration,
Waste management,
Public and private financing; and
Monitoring.

The partnership is now fully government-managed, and the approach upscaled to federal guidelines for restoring, rehabilitating and protecting surface water bodies all over the country.

URUGUAY. Strengthening biodiversity and land conservation policies as pillars of sustainable development.

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Improving farm sustainable land management practices through direct farmer assistance, Ridge to Reef approach

In Seychelles, increasing developmental pressures are degrading land, forests and soils leading to a loss of ecosystem services carbon sequestration and the ability to combat climate change. In an effort to reverse these pressures and restore degraded land, the project: ‘A Ridge to Reef Approach for the Integrated Management of Marine, Coastal and Terrestrial Ecosystems’ (Ridge to Reef) has been working with farmers to improve their sustainable land management practices.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented in partnership with UNDP, the ‘Ridge to Reef’ approach is an integrated management strategy for marine, coastal, and terrestrial ecosystems, focusing on the connection between land and sea to address environmental degradation.

In particular, the project has been working directly with farmers to improve their sustainable land management practices (SLM). Through direct farmer assistance these farmers have begun to shift their practices to improve ecosystem health and resiliency.

From Blanket to Precision: A Data-Driven Decision Support Tool for Site-Specific Fertilizer Recommendations in Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s smallholder farmers continue to face large yield gaps despite decades of fertiliser use and agricultural research investment. A key constraint has been blanket fertiliser recommendations: uniform rates applied nationwide without accounting for local soils, agro‑ecological conditions, or crop diversity. This one‑size‑fits‑all approach leads to systematic misapplication, with over‑use in some areas and under‑use in others. As a result, Ethiopian wheat farmers achieve only 35-45% of potential yields, while more than 60 years of agronomic research data remained fragmented. The Supporting Soil Health Interventions in Ethiopia (SSHI) project, co‑funded by BMZ and the Gates Foundation and implemented by GIZ with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, EIAR, and the Ministry of Agriculture, addressed this gap by developing Ethiopia’s first Site‑Specific Fertiliser Decision Support Tool. Using machine learning, the tool delivers localised fertiliser recommendations, validated across hundreds of farms.

Enhancing farmer resilience in Benin: Terra preta as sustainable and more effective alternative to expensive mineral fertilisers

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Strengthen Resilience of Coastal Communities through Local Early Action Plan-Climate Change Adaptation

Strengthening Resilience of Coastal Communities through the Local Early Action Plan-Climate Change Adaptation (LEAP-CCA) is a community-driven initiative in Mabul Island, Sabah, aimed at reducing climate change vulnerabilities through practical adaptation measures.

Located within the Coral Triangle, Mabul Island is rich in marine biodiversity but highly vulnerable to sea level rise, coastal erosion, wave levels during monsoon and typhoon. These threats affect critical ecosystems, fisheries, tourism, and local livelihoods.

Through collaboration between local communities, government agencies, NGOs, and tourism operators, vulnerable resources were identified and targeted adaptation actions developed. These include rainwater harvesting systems, coral restoration, and improved tourism management. The initiative has strengthened community awareness, improved local participation in climate action, and enhanced the resilience of ecosystems and livelihoods.

Para el MAR: Strengthening MPAs Through Localized Approach to Achieving Philippines’ 30×30 Target

The MPA Support Network (MSN) is a multi-sectoral alliance established to strengthen and sustain the management of MPAs in the Philippines. In 2007, MSN launched the Para el MAR (PEM), a biennial national incentive mechanism that recognizes effectively-managed MPAs.

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Contingents submit their assessment tools such as the MPA Management Effectiveness Assessment Tool, Network Effectiveness Assessment Tool, Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool, and means of verification for screening. Finalists present assessment findings and expert recommendations during the culminating activity which also serves as an avenue for benchmarking of best practices among MPA management bodies.

Since its establishment, PEM addressed challenges on effective MPA management and sustainable funding for long-term protection. MSN has witnessed an upward trend in effective MPA management in the country especially among repeat contenders.

ecOcamp

The ecOcamp, developed by ecOceanica since 2021, is an immersive training program in marine research and conservation, implemented in collaboration with fishing communities in northern Peru. Through a field-based theoretical and practical experience, participants engage directly in marine megafauna monitoring, including aquatic censuses, sea turtle nesting surveys, whale shark registration and photo-identification, and fisheries assessments.

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