ESIGODINI Agricultural College, in Umzingwane District has established a new laboratory at its innovation centre, which is expected to play a key role in enhancing animal health through effective disease surveillance and analysis.
Umzingwane District, located in Matabeleland South Province, widely regarded as a cattle-rearing region, has in recent years been adversely affected by tick-borne diseases such as January Disease and gall sickness.
The innovation centre, established last year, comprises a feed analysis laboratory and a goat housing station. Disease surveillance activities have already commenced at the facility, while feed analysis is set to begin shortly.
The Government, in collaboration with development partners has successfully rehabilitated 10 out of a targeted 21 irrigation schemes in the southern region under the Building Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Agriculture Livelihoods in Southern Zimbabwe programme.
The programme is spearheaded by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, in partnership with the GCF and UNDP.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Department of Environment under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) have jointly launched a national project to integrate climate change adaptation into Bangladesh's development planning.
The initiative was formally inaugurated through an inception workshop titled "Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Sustainable Development Pathways of Bangladesh", held at the Department of Environment Auditorium in Agargaon, Dhaka.
The $20.7 million project—supported by a $5.7 million grant from the Global Environment Facility's Least Developed Countries Fund (GEF-LDCF)—will run from 2022 to 2026 and aims to build resilience across five agro-ecological zones (AEZs): Barind, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Chittagong Coastal Plains, Eastern Surma-Kushiara Flood Plains, and the Teesta Floodplain. The project is expected to directly benefit 1.2 million people living in some of the country's most climate-vulnerable regions.
The Government of India, in collaboration with the Green Climate Fund and UNDP, launched a project to enhance climate resilience in India’s coastal communities. This initiative, operational across three coastal states-Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha focused on conserving and restoring marine ecosystems, including mangroves, while creating climate-resilient livelihoods.
Navghar became a symbol of this transformation. In 2021, the project formed a Mangrove Co-Management Committee, bringing together village members, the Gram Panchayat, and women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Their mission was twofold: protect the mangroves and revive local livelihoods. Women, often the most affected by economic instability, were placed at the forefront.
The development of the NAP was initiated under the UNDP project “Advancing the process of developing a National Adaptation Plan for medium and long-term planning and implementation of adaptation measures to climate change in the Kyrgyz Republic” funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
India is expected to submit its National Adaptation Plan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in November around the time COP30 is expected to be held in Brazil.
India has launched its National Adaptation Plan process to enhance climate resilience. The MoEFCC organized a national workshop in New Delhi to drive this effort. The event, part of the ongoing Green Climate Fund Readiness Programme, gathered policymakers, experts, and stakeholders from various sectors to discuss India’s climate adaptation priorities and strategies.
If you were to imagine the perfect tropical paradise – sunny skies, sparkling warm water and pristine beaches – Tuvalu is as close to it as anywhere on Earth. The country is a narrow strip of tiny islands halfway between Australia and Hawaii that’s made all the more special by its isolation. Yet for all its wonder, the people of Tuvalu are facing a devastating threat. Rising sea levels mean their home is disappearing. And what’s really frightening is how quickly it’s happening. But as Adam Hegarty reports, all is not lost yet.
Farmers from Montrose in Insiza District, Matabeleland South Province, have embarked on a beekeeping project aimed at manufacturing and processing various honey-based products for market. The initiative, which has 27 members, is set to enhance livelihoods and promote climate resilience in the community. Once full-scale honey production begins, they plan to process and diversify their products, tapping into the growing demand for natural honey-based goods.
The project falls under the Building Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Agricultural Livelihoods in Southern Zimbabwe programme, supported by the Government with technical and management assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The programme aims to strengthen climate resilience in agricultural communities by equipping them with resources, training, and support to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved an unprecedented US$103.2 million in grant financing to scale up life-saving early warning systems in seven climate-vulnerable countries.
Led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the five-year project will bolster multi-hazard early warning systems in Antigua and Barbuda, Cambodia, Chad, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, and Somalia, and directly benefit more than 78 million people.
With a total budget of $114.6 million, it will be implemented through the national governments of the seven countries with support from UNDP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and other relevant partner agencies.
What would you do to save your home from disappearing? As sea levels rise, the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu mulls a permanent move to the metaverse to save its culture. But not everyone is giving up just yet.
Interviewees:
Lilly Teafa, Tuvaluan youth and climate advocate
Kato Ewekia Tuvaluan climate activist
Liam Saddington, political and environmental geographer at Cambridge University
Nikki Reisch, climate and energy program director at the Center for International Environmental Law in the US
The Green Climate Fund and UNDP-supported project Developing a National Adaptation Planning Process in Turkmenistan, in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan, hosted a roundtable at the State Hydrometeorological Service.
In a global effort to allocate critical funds to tackle the root causes of the climate and nature crisis, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved US$204.3 million for UNDP’s support of 121 countries in project focused efforts, leveraging an additional US$1.9 billion in co-financing to safeguard people and the planet.
Together, these activities will jointly benefit more than 9.4 million people, including 4.8 million women. The funding aims to scale up efforts to drive a nature-positive and climate-resilient future, restoring thousands of hectares of land with a further three million hectares – roughly the size of Belgium – set to benefit through improved stewardship.
“Bhutan has experienced rapid urbanisation in recent decades, making climate resilience in our growing cities increasingly critical amid more frequent and severe climate events,” Secretary Karma Wangchuk of the MoIT said. “The ECRUL project is a significant step toward enhancing the resilience of urban landscapes, aligning with Bhutan’s NDC under the Paris Agreement and the National Adaptation Plan adopted last year.”
Over 25,000 Vietnamese residents in seven coastal localities are now safeguarded by storm-and flood-resistant homes thanks to a project improving the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change in Vietnam. The project, which ran from 2017 to 2024, also restored 4,028 ha of mangrove forests and installed early warning systems in 24 high-risk communes. A joint effort between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Vietnamese Government, it targeted Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Ca Mau, known for their high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.
In the presence of the Minister of Gender Promotion, the Minister of the Environment, and UNDP’s Resident Representative, the community of Idjikoundzi, in Dimani launched the project "Strengthening the resilience of agricultural systems and intelligent value chains in the face of the climate". This project aims to increase the climate resilience of the main agricultural value chains through innovation, diversification and capacity building.
This project, financially supported by the Global Environment Facility (WEF) and implemented with the financial and technical support of the UNDP, represents an important step in the adaptation of the Comorian agricultural sector to climate challenges. With a budget of 10 million dollars, it will be deployed throughout the national territory, with particular attention to the Rural Centers for Economic Development (CRDE) of Sidjou, Cembenoi and Diboini (Ngazidja), Mimbani and Mledjele (Mwali), as well as Mramani, Bambao Mtsanga and Pomoni (Ndzouani).
UNDP’s Resident Representative stressed the urgency of such initiatives in the face of a global context of growing climate crises. He also highlighted the centrality of agriculture in the Comorian economy and the importance of supporting rural communities, particularly vulnerable, by introducing innovative and sustainable agricultural practices.
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.