In the media

Empowering communities, fostering innovation and integrating socio-economic contexts into climate strategies are crucial for effective adaptation to climate change, says Srilata Kammila, Head of Climate Change Adaptation at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  In an exclusive interview with Inter Press Service at COP29, Kammila shed light on the agency’s pioneering approaches to locally-led climate adaptation.

The Government of Comoros has made water access a top priority, as reflected in the country's Nationally Determined Contribution and Comoros' Emerging Plan (PCE 2030), with the bold ambition of providing 100 percent of the population with reliable, climate-resilient water supplies by 2030, with no one left behind. To make this happen, the government is mobilizing efforts from international partners, local government and communities alike.

In 2019, with the backing of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Comoros launched a US$60 million 8-year project to increase reliable and safe water supply and integrate climate risk reduction into water management. This is how it is progressing.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with Green Climate Fund and the Government, has commissioned a fully equipped semen processing and cryopreservation center.

The center seeks to transform agricultural research and promote climate-smart agriculture by empowering smallholder livestock farmers to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change by having climate resilient herds that are also highly productive.

The Climate Resilient Integrated Water Management Project (CRIWMP) financed by the Green Climate Fund is a nature-based, home-grown approach to addressing climate risks in vulnerable communities like the Dry Zone. Implemented by the Government of Sri Lanka, with support from UNDP, it is reviving the old irrigation systems in three river basins of Mee Oya, Yan Oya and the Malwathu Oya. UNDP Resident Representative in Sri Lanka, Azusa Kubota, explains why the project has been so successful and how the model offers more than just a plan for water and food security.

Talua Nivaga is determined to save his homeland.

As the co-founder of Tuvaluan youth climate group Fulifafou, he's watched the rising seas encroach and swallow parts of his island nation.

While many Tuvaluans are considering migrating to escape the worsening effects of climate change, Mr Nivaga has told the ABC he is resolute in staying and fighting for the future of Tuvalu.

"What is an absolute and certain need of the people is action — there's so much talk that has been done," he said.

Spanning a total area of 200,000 hectares, Việt Nam’s mangrove forests are believed to not only have socio-economic and biodiversity values, but also act as large carbon storage areas that help capture emissions.

Recognising the positive impacts of mangrove forests in the face of climate change, Việt Nam has been working to protect and revive these areas with the help of the international community, including through a project improving the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change related impacts.

The mangrove forests from the project are flourishing to become a ‘green barrier’ against strong waves while also protecting coastal dykes and improving local livelihoods and biodiversity. Data as of June this year shows that the emission reduction from the project’s mangrove forests reached over 1.1 million tonnes of CO2, exceeding the initial target of 565,000 tonnes.

UNDP recently hosted an exposure visit for journalists to highlight the significant achievements of the Green Climate Fund-financed "GLOF-II Project", a project which aims to enhance community resilience against glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) in northern Pakistan.

Journalists observed several key accomplishments, including the construction of 70 channels totaling 19,859 meters, which benefit 9,512 men and 9,262 women. Protection walls for 178 schemes assist 15,354 men and 14,955 women, while base platforms for 61 systems and slope stabilization schemes covering 280 hectares aid 4,957 men and 4,859 women. The project has also renovated five observatories and two conservation sites, established seven Community-Based Disaster Risk Management centers benefiting 5,650 men and 5,350 women, and created a safe haven in Kumrat for 900 men and 900 women. Additionally, the project improved access routes in Kandia and Reshun and set up green climate clubs in government schools.

Around 696,342 individuals across 24 valleys in 15 districts, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, have benefitted to date.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility, the project ‘Development of the First Biennial Transparency Report, the Second Biennial Transparency Report and the Fourth National Communication of Sri Lanka to UNFCCC’ will be implemented by the Ministry of Environment together with UNDP in Sri Lanka, and will support the Government to prepare the First & Second Biennial Transparency Reports and the Fourth National Communication.

To mark the launch of the project, the Project Document signing took place on August 5 with the Secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Resident Representative for UNDP in Sri Lanka. Mr.Prabath Chandrakeerthi, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment said, “We recognize the importance of submitting the BTRs and national communications, not only as a demonstration of our commitment to achieving the targets under the Paris Agreement but also to showcase our progress and strengthen our efforts to combat climate change. It represents our dedication to enhanced transparency, accountability, reinforcing global cooperation to address this urgent challenge."

Ten new GCF-funded projects, including the UNDP-supported Coastal Resilience Project in Tonga, are on track for implementation, with two projects in Bhutan and Malawi setting record times for rapid delivery. Steps were accelerated by the Fund to get projects out-the-door as quickly as possible upon their approval by the GCF Board.

GCF signed Funded Activity Agreements (FAA) for 10 projects immediately after their approval at the 39th meeting of the GCF Board. 

The FAA is an agreement that contains conditions to be fulfilled by the GCF Accredited Entity (AE) and must be negotiated and signed by GCF and the AE before the project can launch. As this can be a lengthy process, GCF has been making efforts to speed this step up. This is part of GCF’s efficiency agenda that aims to swiftly deliver projects in developing countries through reforming the Fund’s funding processes.

The Education Above All (EAA) Foundation has highlighted the role of education in facing the challenges of climate crisis at a United Nations event. Held in partnership with the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations, Generation Unlimited, Unicef, UNDP and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the event titled “Education to Combat the Climate Crisis” took place during the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF 2024) on Sustainable Development at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. 

The discussion featured a panel of distinguished speakers, including Catalina Duarte Salcedo, education specialist with Unicef Colombia; Susana Puerto, head of the Youth Employment Accelerator at the ILO; Srilata Kammila, head of Climate Change Adaptation at the UNDP; Darren Karjama, Partnerships and Outreach Specialist at the Green Climate Fund; Maleiha Malik, executive director of PEIC (Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict) at EAA; Noura al-Kaabi, strategic partnerships researcher, Qatar Fund for Development, and Salwa al-Kuwari, a youth advocate from EAA, with George Tavola from EAA moderating the event.

What can we do to address the complex interconnected threats of climate change? Multilateral investments are crucial say Ami Bera and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. 

"In Tuvalu, we stood atop a sea wall partially funded by the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund and the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the first large-scale coastal adaptation project of its kind in the region. Completed in 2023 using local labor, huge amounts of sand were sustainably dredged to create an embankment 2,500 feet long and 330 feet wide. This “reclaimed” land stands eight feet above the Highest Astronomical Tide, providing protection to 60 percent of the population for at least the next 80 years.  Assuming there is sufficient funding for Phase 2, the entire population of Tuvalu’s capital — approximately 6,000 people — will be able to move to higher ground. Adding to the impact, the sea wall will be silted, allowing Tuvaluans to create community gardens, increasing their access to fresh produce and reducing their reliance on expensive food imports."

The time it takes to cross the Ayapel swamp, the largest swamp in the department of Córdoba, northern Colombia, is a good measurement of how much this landscape has changed in recent decades. The journey, which used to take several hours, can now be done in less than one. Gone are the streams that forced the boatmen to slow down and the large clumps of floating plants that made it difficult to move through the wetlands.

Before, it was full of mangroves, recalls Ana María Rivera. “Today, what do you see? Sky and water, because there’s no beautiful mangrove creek left,” says the young woman, who lives in the village of Perú, a rural area at the southern end of the swamp.

The problems plaguing the swamp are as complex as the landscape in which it is located. Ayapel and ten other municipalities in the departments of Sucre, Bolívar, Córdoba, and Antioquia make up La Mojana, where three of the country’s most important rivers converge: the San Jorge, the Cauca, and the Magdalena. The Magdalena reaches the region through the Loba branch, one of the two branches parting the river’s course as it passes through the El Banco municipality in the department of Magdalena.

In a suburban cream-brick church in Melbourne’s outer west, 5000 kilometres from a homeland facing extinction, the mellifluous voices of a congregation of Tuvaluans rise in song.

The service is mostly in Tuvaluan, a Polynesian language spoken by only 13,000 people worldwide.

This Sunday afternoon service at Melton Baptist Church is a thread that connects the Tuvaluan diaspora in Melbourne to their homeland, a tiny country in the South Pacific Ocean that many see as the canary in the climate change mine.

“Rising seas threaten to drown this island nation – a sign of what’s in store for us all,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted in 2019.

The existential threat to Tuvalu is profound.

The project "Resilience to climate change in the coastal area of Cuba through ecosystem-based adaptation-Mi Costa" developed the training workshop for members of the Pinar del Río initiative, which is the last of a series of training events that over a year have been held in the seven provinces involved in that program.

Social and environmental safeguarding was one of the most relevant issues addressed during the workshop, with the purpose of sensitizing the participants and providing them with the necessary tools to face such situations, in line with the objective of strengthening the ability of local communities to adapt to climate change.

Dr. C. Marta Rosa Muñoz Campos, director of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Cuba (FLACSO), who was at the head of the workshop, commented that these meetings have a cascading effect, since the training must flow from the provinces to the municipalities and the population. He also highlighted the role of the Municipal University Centers as one of the fundamental pillars that support the project.

Juba, May 2024 – In a major move to combat the challenges posed by climate change and food insecurity, the government of South Sudan has launched a 5-year US$33 million project to build long-term resilience within vulnerable agro-pastoral communities.

To be implemented by World Vision with the UN Development Programme, the project will benefit around 75,000 people, more than half of them women, through watershed-based ecosystem restoration, climate-smart agricultural practices, and diversified livelihoods, as well as strengthened connections to markets. It will also contribute directly to the sustainable management of 15,000 hectares of land in a region recognized as being highly vulnerable to desertification.

“With the climate crisis only deepening, we are delighted to see this important climate adaptation project (WACRESS) launch in Juba,” said South Sudan’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Hon Josephine Napwon. “In partnership with the Global Environment Facility, UN Development Programme, and World Vision, it will directly improve lives and livelihoods and contribute to the three pillars of our National Adaptation Plan – building climate resilient communities, building a climate-resilient economy and development pathway, and building a climate-resilient environment.”

UNDP has spearheaded the launch of a groundbreaking project titled “Watershed Approaches for Climate Resilience in Agro-pastoral Landscapes” in South Sudan. This initiative marks a significant step towards strengthening the country's resilience to climate change impacts while promoting sustainable development and economic empowerment among vulnerable communities.

Funded by the GEF-Least Developed Countries Fund and implemented by World Vision South Sudan in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the project is designed to restore ecosystems, strengthen market linkages, and support gender-responsive, climate-smart agricultural practices. Through a participatory watershed-based approach, the project aims to address the root causes of vulnerability and build resilience among agro-pastoral communities, particularly in the face of prolonged conflict and escalating climate change.

In a significant move to reinforce partnership and commitment, UNDP along with World Vision and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of South Sudan convened on 2 May 2024 for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the project, a precursor to the launch. 

The deputy head of UN development Agency has called for a joint efforts between the government and partners to empower communities and protect natural resources as the country embarks on implementing a five-year climate resilience project. 

The five-year project known as "Watershed Approaches for Climate Resilience in Agro-pastoral Landscape Project" shall be implemented in Aweil Centre and Aweil East countries. 

It is funded by the Global Environment Facility through UNDP and implemented by World Vision South Sudan in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

South Sudan and World Vision have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement a project that seeks to strengthen local resilience to the impact of climate change. The project named “Watershed Approaches for Climate Resilience in Agro-Pastoral Landscapes” is worth 33 million U.S. dollars and will target 75,000 people in Aweil Center and Aweil East counties in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State.The five-year project to be implemented by World Vision will enhance the capacity of communities to manage and withstand the adverse effects of climate change. Speaking during the signing ceremony, Josephine Napwon Cosmos, the Minister of Environment and Forestry, said her ministry developed the project to address the impacts of climate change in the country. Dominic Sam, the UNDP Resident Representative in South Sudan, said the project focus extends to resilient agriculture and food value chains, and boost climate-smart practices to mitigate crop failure risks and enhance food security and economic independence for 25,000 individuals.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has handed over US$82 000 worth of goats, agricultural and laboratory equipment to Esigodini Agricultural College to enhance the institution’s programmes.

Esigodini Agricultural College is one of the five platforms driving Zimbabwe’s innovation in agriculture.

The college received 54 Kalahari and Matabele goats and an assortment of agricultural equipment including heating ovens, a lab size grinding mill, an automated fat extractor, microscopes, fume cupboards, a automated kjeldahl unit and several laboratory consumables.

“UNDP has the largest climate portfolio in the UN system, supporting climate action in nearly 150 developing countries,” Cassie Flynn, Global Director of Climate Change at UNDP, explained.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) today unveiled the next stage of the Climate Promise – an initiative to support developing countries on their climate action.

Climate Promise 2025 - introduced by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner at an event at UN Headquarters in New York City - marks the beginning of renewed efforts on climate action across the UN System ahead of 2025, a critical year as countries enter into a new 5-year cycle of commitments to limit global warming.

UNDP’s Climate Promise 2025 builds on the organization’s continuing support for more than 125 developing countries to align the next generation of their national climate pledges – known as ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ or ‘NDCs’ – to the goals set forth under the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and increase resilience to climate impacts.