In Kyrgyzstan, livestock herding remains a cornerstone of rural livelihoods, yet inefficient resource use and unsustainable herd sizes are accelerating land degradation, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating environmental and public health risks—all of which heighten the impacts of climate change. Ecotourism is often presented as a complementary livelihood option, but it also comes with its own set of challenges. These include ensuring that tours respect nature and do not harm protected areas, difficulties in connecting tour operators with new or remote destinations, limited local services and marketing capacity, and ensuring that tourism activities genuinely support conservation efforts.

In many African countries, agricultural growth remains a key driver of development. Agriculture ensures food security and is a source of rural income and employment. However, most small farms suffer from low productivity due to soil degradation, a lack of inputs and knowledge of sustainable agricultural practices, and the effects of climate change.

In Côte d’Ivoire, these challenges are amplified by deforestation: forest cover has fallen from around 16 million hectares in the 1960s to 2.5 million today, weakening ecosystems and soil fertility while increasing rural vulnerability.

The Participatory Household-Level Restoration Plan (PPR) offers an inclusive approach where each household aligns its vision, needs, and priorities with forest restoration. By placing rural families at the heart of planning, implementation, and monitoring, the PPR promotes sustainable restoration.

Mundo Marino, a Spanish company operating along the Mediterranean coast (Valencia, Costa Blanca, and Málaga), has integrated sustainable practices into nautical tourism through the design and operation of hybrid and electric catamarans. The flagship vessel Mundo Marino Eco combines sail power with Torqeedo Deep Blue electric propulsion, solar panels, and hydrogeneration systems. This innovation reduces carbon emissions by 40% compared to conventional vessels, achieving an average of 22 g CO₂ per passenger/km.

The project goes beyond tourism, serving as a platform for environmental education, citizen science, and collaborations with research institutions in marine biodiversity monitoring. By offering sustainable maritime mobility and raising awareness among thousands of visitors each year, Mundo Marino contributes to reducing pressures on marine ecosystems, aligning with the objectives of the Global Biodiversity Framework and supporting the 30×30 target in Mediterranean coastal waters.

The Sebeya catchment in Western Rwanda, once prone to recurrent flooding, erosion, and landslides, was transformed through the “Embedding Integrated Water Resources Management in Rwanda (EWMR)” project. Led by Rwanda Water Resources Board and partners, the project applied Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to restore 7,700 hectares using terraces, trenches, riverbank protections, and afforestation. The approach combined land rehabilitation with innovative financing, value chains, and inclusive planning. Over 35,000 green jobs were created, alongside improved soil health, aquifer recharge, agricultural productivity, and livelihoods. By integrating community-driven land use planning into district-level governance, the project laid the foundation for long-term resilience and scalability.

The Smart DESERT project was funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) with a total budget of EUR 10 million and implemented by a consortium of organisations led by IUCN ROWA, targeting the area of the North-East Badia highlands in Jordan. The project was designed to achieve two key objectives: (1) increased year-round income and (2) improved work conditions, with an overarching goal of economic empowerment of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians in the agricultural sector.

The project addresses key challenges such as water scarcity, land degradation, rural unemployment, and limited market access. By introducing water harvesting systems, regenerative agriculture practices, and digital tools, Smart DESERT helps farmers improve productivity, conserve natural resources, and build climate resilience. It also supports the creation of home-based agribusinesses and facilitates connections to markets and finance.

Within this project, multiple supply chains engaged in the Handline and Pole and Line fishery in Indonesia were categorized into a set of generic supply chain types. This allowed us to audit a wide set of supply chain types and create a generic improvement approach for each type. We shared improvement approaches with an entire group of industries engaged in the industry association AP2HI, at present over 20 companies and allow them to independently work towards the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard as well as increasing international traceability requirements.

 Industries such as mining, forestry, and oil and gas have been trying for years to minimise their environmental and social impacts, but there is a growing expectation from civil society, regulators and investors that companies not only ‘do no harm’, but also make a positive contribution to the environment and society.

In many companies, projects follow procedures to avoid or minimise biodiversity impacts and restore biodiversity or offset impacts when these are unavoidable. This framework, known as the mitigation hierarchy, is increasingly used by companies and governments to improve environmental management and contribute to a net positive impact (NPI) or biodiversity net gain (BNG).

Following a NPI commitment by the mining company Rio Tinto, IUCN worked with the company to develop and trial a review protocol that could track its progress towards reaching NPI at an operational level. This protocol was tested at Rio Tinto operations in Australia, Mongolia and Madagascar.

Eco-Benin believes that business is a key determinant of the usage of natural resources; in 2018, it created a multi-stakeholder platform to motivate business to address its impacts on nature and people. The CSR Café initiative, a periodic event, offers a space for dialogue with NGOs, businesses, and State actors. NGOs help businesses realise their impacts and dependencies on nature, and stress their responsibilities and need for action. Businesses exchange with NGOs on how the latter can support them, present their successful CSR activities, and make commitments to sustainability. For instance, Eco-Benin discussed marine pollution with the Beninese brewery company, SOBEBRA. CSR Café seeks to become a hub where involved actors can find opportunities, inspiration, and expertise for CSR activities. All stakeholders, including State representatives and the public at times, jointly determine the vision, solutions, and actions for this initiative. Ultimately, this led to the Beninese government adopting the CSR Charter.

Growth corridors are regions where natural resource-based industries, such as agriculture and mining, are being developed to boost economic growth. SUSTAIN (Sustainability and Inclusion Strategy for Growth Corridors), an IUCN-led initiative, aims to shape the investment and design of these corridors so that they are environmentally and socially sustainable.

Located in a vast floodplain, Tanzania’s Kilombero district hosts wetlands, waterfalls and iconic wildlife species, such as elephant, hippo, antelope and lion. The mountain rainforests are a vital water source  for the surrounding area and its economy. As part of SUSTAIN, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is working with one of Tanzania’s biggest rice producers, valley farmers and mountain villages in Kilombero to increase agricultural productivity while conserving forests, water sources and wildlife at a coordinated landscape level. A pillar of the programme is a payment for ecosystems services (PES) scheme.

Amazon indigenous communities have for generations integrated farms and forest to produce an extraordinary diversity of foods, but market and cultural forces are eroding these well-honed systems.

A burgeoning Latin American food movement is creating new opportunities. Relationships between rainforest communities and chefs can help incubate new enterprises and showcase the Amazon, through delicious food, to new audiences and allies.

Canopy Bridge works with a group of more than 25 chefs from Ecuador´s best restaurants, indigenous communities and conservation NGOs to develop value chains for Amazon fresh foods (aquaculture paiche- Arapaima gigas– from Ai-Kofán and products grown by the Kichwa people in highly diversified chakra production units) that have substantial conservation benefits and great culinary potential. Through the establishment of a distribution chain from the Amazon to Quito, these products are now reaching specialty food markets and restaurants on a weekly basis. 

The DDCR has implemented a nature-based tourism offering in partnership with seven tour operators which allows over 250,000 visitors to the protected area on an annual basis. Effective planning and implementation of a zonation plan ensure environmental sustainability by limiting areas of environmental impact. Furthermore, each tour operator has an individual route ensuring a premium experience of wildlife in a pristine desert landscape as well as greatly enhancing safety for the visitor.

All visitors to the DDCR pay entrance fees, through the tour operators, which is used exclusively for the management and research requirements of the protected area.