Objectives

This project is designed to increase the role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in delivering Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), and in promoting adherence to LDN principles, including environmental and social safeguards, in public and private investments. The project has a global scope and will strengthen the capacity and the level of engagement of CSOs in the regions. The project objective is: “Increased capacities and recognition of the CSOs to contribute to the adherence of LDN principles in policies, programs and investments”. This will be delivered through capacities and support to CSOs to ensure that LDN is better aligned with established principles and practices and to lead investments in LDN. The project will consist of 2 components: 1) Influencing LDN and 2) Leveraging LDN. Component 1 focuses on increasing the recognition of CSOs at the political level, as well as increasing opportunities to be involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating LDN transformative projects. This is further extended to increasing the visibility of CSOs efforts towards achieving LDN. This will be done through a variety of mechanisms, namely knowledge development and exchange, mentoring, advocacy towards policy makers, awareness raising events and mobilisation of CSO community. Component 2 seeks to answer this demand, by building CSOs capacities and providing technical support to CSOs to leverage funds and convening fund raising meetings with donors and private investors. It is centred around a single outcome: CSOs’ capacities to leverage funds for LDN are increased. This will be achieved through knowledge development and exchange, and increased engagement with donors

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

As a global scale project, the socioeconomic benefits delivered by the project at national and local level will be indirect and context dependent. Overall, the project targets building the capacity of CSOs in both advocacy and fund-raising; these will directly feed into their mandate to bring forth civil societies to government, monitoring policies and encouraging political participation at the community level. Under Component 1, CSOs will be able to gain more knowledge about the UNCCD and LND, which in turn; this will improve their ability to understand how and when they can influence policy, starting at a national level, but for some, at an international level. This is of particular importance for countries where land degradation and LDN may not be prioritized; it will increase their ability to more effectively advocate to their governments, creating the necessary environment to encourage and strengthen sustainable land management and restoration opportunities. In terms of communities, this translates into the recognized socio-economic benefits of such actions (e.g., improved food production, natural resource management, climate resilience). Through component 2 (and some capacity building elements of Component 1 – e.g., communication), CSOs should be better equipped to navigate the funding landscape, which in essence, will provide more opportunities for community-based projects to slow land degradation or increase land restoration efforts. This in turn will provide numerous socioeconomic benefits to the local populations benefitting from the initiatives, including but not limited to, improved food production, improved and sustainable water and other natural resource management, improved health, increased job opportunities, and importantly climate change resilience. It is also important to recognize that this project will also improve the socio-economic opportunities for many of the CSO-based individuals taking part in the project, namely in terms of professional prospects. It provides a way to build capacity (i.e., increase skill sets), as well as expose them to novel situations and people. This, particularly in the global south, are non-negligible impacts, as it helps foster the confidence, capacity and networking that is necessary to increase the influence of such stakeholders on the global policy level, which in turn, should help further the (sustainable) socio-economic development agenda.

General

Sustainable livelihood of Indigenous People in Rattanakiri and Mondulkir Through Effective Land Management. -

Objectives

To help enable decision-makers1 to accelerate the systemwide transformations2 needed to safeguard the global commons for all. 1Decision-makers include policymakers across all sectors and at all levels of decision-making; funders and investors channelling climate and nature-related finance through bilateral aid agencies, multilateral institutions, private philanthropies, and impact investing firms; leaders across the private sector; and those at the helm of international non-governmental organizations, civil society movements, and United Nations agencies. 2 Limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C and halting biodiversity loss will require transformations across socio-technical systems (power, industry, transport, the built environment, and sustainable production and consumption) and social-ecological systems (food, terrestrial ecosystem management, freshwater ecosystem management, and marine ecosystem management). Broader transformations across political, economic, and social systems will also be required, such as how we will finance the transition to a net-zero GHG emissions and nature-positive future, measure economic well-being, distribute the costs and benefits of these transformations, improve social equity and inclusion, and govern the global commons.

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

Due to the global and interdisciplinary nature of this project, it is hard to pinpoint quantifiable or localized socioeconomic benefits—however, the project should bring about socioeconomic co-benefits globally and locally through facilitating systems change via the project outcomes. More specifically, the success of the SCL’s work could help deliver the GEF’s global environmental benefits and adaptation benefits. Rapid, far-reaching transitions across systems can lead to a more prosperous, sustainable, and nature-positive society for all. As an example, transforming how we manage land and forests entails restoring degraded and deforestedlandscapes. Such a transformation would lead to a positive impact not only on biodiversity, associated ecosystems services, and ecological resilience, but also contribute to GEF’s global environmental benefits in climate change (through sequestering and storing carbon), land degradation (through restoration of native ecosystems), and adaptation (through agroforestry systems that diversify farmers’ livelihoods). Similarly, transforming our food systems involves shifting to sustainable agricultural production, halving food loss and waste, shifting to more plant-based diets, and reducing GHG emissions from agriculture. These shifts could enhance food security (through increasing crop, livestock, and pasture productivity on existing lands) and improve livelihoods (through the introduction of more resilient, low-emissions production methods and technologies), helping hundreds of millions of small-scale agricultural producers to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The SCL also includes a cross-cutting focus on ‘Inclusion, Equity and the Just Transition’ that will underpin the sectoral transformations it seeks to advance (see Annex N for further information). This will include shifts that ensure that the costs and benefits of systems change are equitably distributed, that those historically marginalized from decision-making processes have a seat at the table across all levels of policymaking (i.e., global, national, and local), and that efforts to safeguard the global commons are combined with those to ensure universal access to basic services and opportunities. It also encompasses efforts to ensure just transitions at all levels and for both those disproportionately affected by climate impacts and biodiversity loss, as well as those working in industries that may need to be phased out (e.g., fossil fuel companies). If the Lab is successful in supporting decision-makers to act on these issues, (and potentially strengthening coalitions or helping create a new coalition for transformations not currently addressed), then this should also contribute to substantial socioeconomic benefits in the near future at both local and national levels.