Climate. Nature. People.

Solutions for a climate-resilient future

Special feature

WHY DO CLIMATE, NATURE AND PEOPLE MATTER?

The climate is in crisis and nature is responding. Plant and animal species unable to adapt are going extinct, and some ecosystems are collapsing. Humans are part of this delicate balance. We must work with nature rather than against it, and transform our destructive ways into creative solutions. The time is NOW.

Right now, the planet needs nature-based solutions. Here, we showcase approaches developed by CIFOR-ICRAF researchers in close collaboration with our partners.

We encourage you to explore these solutions with a critical eye, and put your energy into those that most resonate with you and your community.

One world, one health. Climate. Nature. People.

Credit: Global Landscapes Forum

The challenges and their solutions

Challenges

To meet the Paris Agreement targets, countries need to remove a billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2025 and more than one billion tonnes annually thereafter. But the current pipeline of climate change mitigation projects in development can remove only around 150 million tonnes of CO2 by 2025 – well short of what’s needed.

Solutions

Nature-based solutions provide effective ways to increase carbon storage, while also promoting sustainable economic development.

Natural carbon sinks

Wetlands

Wetlands, including peatlands, mangrove forests and seagrass meadows, are among the most carbon-rich landscapes on Earth, storing 3–5 times more carbon than other tropical forests.

Mangroves

In Indonesia blue carbon could help reduce emissions by as much as 200 million tonnes of CO2 annually – the equivalent of 30% of its emissions from land.

How can we apply nature-based solutions?

Climate-smart agriculture

In Viet Nam, farmers using climate-smart agricultural methods boosted their rice yields by 9–15%, and used 70–75% less seeds, 20–25% less nitrogen fertiliser and 33% less water. Many countries also report that climate-smart agricultural methods reduce emissions by 20–62%.

Agroforestry

Storing an average of 8.4 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year, at a global level agroforestry could sequester 8 billion tonnes of carbon per year – equivalent to 40% of a decade of fossil-fuel emissions from UK, Germany, France and Canada combined, in the 2010s.

TIME FOR ACTI N

OUR ACTIONS TO ADDRESS THE CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGES


FOREST MANAGEMENT

REDD+ and deforestation – various countries in the Global South

CIFOR-ICRAF has been successfully informing governments on the design of policies to reverse deforestation and forest degradation in tropical countries.

CARBON MONITORING

SWAMP and blue carbon – various countries in the Global South

The Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program has been providing evidence for development of policies on adaptation and mitigation, arguing the case for ‘blue carbon’.

Energy and climate

Bio- and renewable energy – various countries in the Global South

CIFOR-ICRAF is harnessing renewable energy by exploring bioenergy sources for food production and environmental conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

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