Preserving Forests: A Focus on Innovative Projects Supported by EUROCLIMA+
Under the “Forests, Biodiversity and Ecosystems” component of the EUROCLIMA+ programme, Expertise France and GIZ have launched a call for projects to support innovative initiatives working to establish adaptation and mitigation mechanisms based on improving forest management in the region, which is recognised as one of the world’s major biodiversity hotspots.
The projects selected include a project to improve land-use governance and management and a project to harvest and reuse rainwater.
Initiatives for sustainable forest management in Honduras and Peru
The “Improving Land-Use Governance and Management” project, which concerns Honduras and Peru, is implemented by an innovative alliance between the non-profit organisations Amazonia Viva, Helvetas Honduras and Madera Verde and the private company The Pure Project, the consortium coordinator. This project aims to build the capacities of local stakeholders for sustainable forest management in these two countries. It thereby contributes to the implementation of the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement.
These successes have been achieved through exchanges between Peruvian and Honduran communities and the strong involvement of women’s networks.
Twenty water reservoirs built in Peru and Costa Rica
The “Water Sowing and Harvesting” project is managed by the NGO AIDER in Peru and the National Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO) in Costa Rica. The first phase of this project has passed on ancestral Inca and pre-Inca know-how on how to build reservoirs for rainwater harvesting and infiltration.
For further reading: Peru is passing on ancestral know-how to tackle climate change
This learning has resulted in a concrete achievement with the construction of seven reservoirs in Peru and Costa Rica with a total capacity of 50,000 m3. Through this project, this ancestral technology has been adopted by public and private investors. In Costa Rica, thirteen additional reservoirs have consequently been built with private funds and the Government of Costa Rica, through the Institute for Rural Development (INDER), has allocated USD 125,000 for the construction of 28 additional rainwater harvesting reservoirs in 2021.
The exchanges under this project have also helped advance the legislative and regulatory frameworks on water in Peru, with a draft law on a water tax, and in Costa Rica, with a proposal for a decree to regulate rainwater harvesting.
With additional financing allocated by the European Union via Expertise France, the project extends in a second phase to continue the ongoing efforts. The project extension was supposed to enable the creation of ten additional reservoirs by January 2022 but twelve reservoirs have already been built as of summer 2021, which exceeds the initial objectives.
This initiative will ensure the continuity of agricultural and fish farming activities in a context of climate change, strengthen food security and foster employment and rural development in Guanacaste region. “We are sure that this project could be implemented in other communities. These actions are key to reduce the impact of climate change in regions such as Guanacaste, which have been affected by droughts,” said Claudia Dobles, first lady of Costa Rica, at the reservoirs delivery, in the presence of the Minister for the Environment.
Two other projects will be supported starting in the spring of 2021: the “Forest Management and Restoration in Productive Environments in Gran Chaco” project and “Non-Timber Resource Management in the Amazon Rainforest” project in Bolivia.
These initiatives of the “Forests, Biodiversity and Ecosystems” component of the EUROCLIMA+ thereby contribute to increasing the resilience of vulnerable populations and ecosystems to climate change.
For further reading: Earning a living from the forest without degrading it: communities from the Maya Biosphere Reserve share their know-how
Find out more at EUROCLIMA+: www.euroclimaplus.org