Community solutions for a nature-based, resilient future beyond COVID-19
Globally, COVID-19 has claimed more than one million lives and disrupted even more. At the same time, locust swarms have ravaged farms in Africa, forest fires are devastating the west coast of the United States and floods have affected many people in Asia. It’s a stern reminder that we must work better with nature to avoid greater spread of disease and natural disasters.
This article is part of the Beyond COVID-19: grassroots visions of change series that brings together forward-looking responses on specific themes in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, drawing on our partners’ insights and providing a platform for voices from the global South. In this edition, IIED senior researcher Xiaoting Hou-Jones focuses on working with nature to prevent, mitigate and respond to viruses.
Read the article now and look at the photo and video stories from 14 countries showing how working with nature brings many benefits to local communities.
|
|
UN Biodiversity Summit
United in a call for higher ambition on the global biodiversity agenda
Ahead of the recent UN biodiversity summit, a partnership of environment and development organisations – including IIED – urged world leaders to ramp up ambition on action for nature, climate and development.
For more on this read the blog from principal researcher Dilys Roe, the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, and the statement from IIED.
|
|
|
CBA14 closing plenary
UK minister urges countries to allocate more finance to nature-based solutions to help tackle climate change
At the closing plenary of the recent International Conference on Community-based Adaptation (CBA14), UK international environment minister Zac Goldsmith said that there is no pathway to net zero emissions without a major effort to protect and restore nature.
Watch the video with his remarks.
|
|
|
Our partners' perspectives
|
|
IWT news
Online learning series helps practitioners engage communities in tackling illegal wildlife trade
Ever wanted to know how to engage communities in tackling illegal wildlife trade? With partners IUCN ESARO and IUCN SULi, we are delivering seven online sessions to provide information on the application of the ‘Local Communities: First Line of Defence against Illegal Wildlife Trade’ initiative.
If you are working in the East African Community region and are interested in participating, find out how now.
|
|
|
Blog from Rare
Building back better from COVID-19: leaders and their communities are key to recovery
Rare co-hosted the CBA14 'Community-led Nature-based Solutions for Adaptation: Lessons for Building Back Better from COVID-19' session with members of the Friends of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (FEBA). Rare’s breakout discussion within the session reflected on significant elements that those implementing and supporting nature-based solutions projects should consider, such as empowering women and using a science-based approach that incorporates traditional knowledge. Find out more in their blog.
|
|
|
News
Biocultural heritage territories: key to halting biodiversity loss
A new briefing by Asociación ANDES, the Research Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR), and IIED - which draws on 20 years’ experience in the Potato Park in Peru - argues that community-led approaches, such as Indigenous biocultural heritage territories, provide more just and effective alternatives to protected areas in order to meet the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 targets as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.
Find out more and download the briefing.
|
|
|
Issue paper, 48 pages
Tackling the triple crisis. Using debt swaps to address debt, climate and nature loss post-COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has made developing country debt worse as its economic impact pushes millions more people in these countries into poverty. This paper shows how, as part of pandemic economic rescue packages, governments have an opportunity to address simultaneously the crises of debt, climate and biodiversity destruction through a new use of the system of debt for climate and nature programme swaps.
Download the issue paper.
|
|
|
Briefing
Can collective intellectual property rights preserve culture and biodiversity?
Millions of unique smallholder producers and artisans make a huge contribution to the world economy but few can compete in globalised markets. There is an urgent need to shift market and trade preferences towards production systems that can both boost producers’ incomes and sustain the interlinked biodiversity and cultural (biocultural) heritage of their landscapes. One approach is to use place-based intellectual property rights — known as geographical indications (GIs). This briefing highlights the advantages and challenges producers can face in doing so, and ways forward.
Download the briefing.
|
|
|
|
|
