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In 2016, UNDP is continuing its work to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or Global Goals, as they help shape global sustainable development for the next 15 years.
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Displaying 321 - 325 of 362Large-scale land transformations in Indonesia: The role of community paralegals in resolving conflicts
General
In Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Dayak communities have experienced threats to their livelihoods due to wide-scale and rapid changes in land use over the last ten years. These trends also threaten the sustainable use of natural resources. A new democratic regime in 1998 brought about notable improvements in the legal framework such as recognizing communal land rights, managing forest areas, ensuring sustainable use of natural resources, and facilitating participatory decision-making and equitable negotiations. However, many Indonesians, including the Dayaks, are still largely unable to use the law to defend their interests. This project is implemented in partnership with the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (an affiliate of Friends of the Earth International), the largest and oldest environmental advocacy non-governmental organization in Indonesia. It aims to empower marginalized Dayak communities to obtain remedies for the impacts caused by the operations of companies on common-use lands. This involves engaging with administrative structures, and pressing local governments for more consistent and just implementation, as well as better environmental and social outcomes of state regulation. Traditionally, this role has been filled by community paralegals, who are able to use knowledge of the law and legal processes, familiarity with the local context, and a range of practical strategies to empower communities to protect and enforce their rights under law. The project will recruit, train, and support 24 community paralegals, half of them women, to work alongside communities facing the impacts of unsustainable changes in land use and non-compliance with existing legislation. The activities include education and training, legal counseling and mediation, documentation and mapping, and data analysis and policy recommendations for institutions at the provincial level and at the national Ministry of Environment and Forestry. The objective is to enable the local community, especially women, to navigate legal channels and seek peaceful remedies for fair solutions to land-related conflicts. It will empower them to access remedies offered through legal and regulatory institutions and make government responsive to local community grievances. Establishing relationships with local authorities to advocate for regulatory and institutional changes will help reduce the enforcement gap, strengthen institutional mechanisms for environmental and social protection of the local communities, and enable timely responses to the impacts of large-scale land transformations in Central Kalimantan.
Unlocking the Poverty Penalty and Upscaling the Respect for Rights in Kenya's Informal Settlements
General
Kenya's population is becoming increasingly urban. In Nairobi, over half the population lives in slums or informal settlements, which are plagued by cramped living conditions and poor access to basic services. Women face additional burdens, particularly in the area of personal security. In Nairobi's Mukuru settlement, the "poverty penalty" means that residents pay three to four times more for the available poor services than in wealthier neighbourhoods nearby. Behind the scenes is a complex informal and highly commercialized web of power and governance, where landlords and criminal organizations thrive, often through violence or extortion. In part, these conditions result from both gaps in existing laws and policies and from failures to apply them; however, Kenya's 2010 Constitution has provided some hope in confronting decades of exclusion and lack of access to justice by the poor. This project, implemented by local partner Muungano Wa Wanavijiji Akiba Mashinani Registered Trustees, will build on previous research efforts that have developed legal, financial and planning models that provide a first approach on how to unlock the poverty penalty. The solutions address both technical and governance obstacles to upgrading, improving service delivery and the security of land tenure that ensure basic rights and living conditions for Mukuru residents. Once living conditions are improved, residents can tap into their economic potential and escape the current cycle of exclusion and poverty. In Nairobi, new research and continued engagement with the county and with local residents will feed into the development of further tools to support upgrading programs and policies. Implementation of pilot projects, such as a special housing fund for the Mukuru settlement, will generate new legal, planning, and financial knowledge that can feed into scaling-up efforts across the county. In Kiambu County, research will focus on settlements in Thika, a fast-expanding peri-urban centre. Drawing on experiences from Mukuru, the research will support proactive efforts by the county to address informal settlement challenges, which are only now emerging, and not yet at a scale seen in large centres like Nairobi. The research in this case could then guide policies and practices in other peri-urban centres across the country.
Scaling Up Fertilizer Micro-Dosing and Indigenous Vegetable Production and Utilization in West Africa (CIFSRF
General
Poor soil fertility and land degradation result in low production yields and quality for indigenous vegetables in West Africa. This project will address the challenges to improve vegetable production through fertilizer innovations. Increasing vegetable yields and quality This project will build on earlier research funded by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF), a program of IDRC undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. Two earlier projects generated promising results to improve food security in West Africa for poor families. Using innovations developed in this earlier work, researchers will speed up adoption of innovative approaches that will use cost-saving fertilizer micro-dosing and better water management to improve indigenous vegetable production in Nigeria and Benin. The project team will develop, test, and deploy two different models (Innovations Platform and Satellite Dissemination Approach) that will reach and benefit more farmers with sustainable vegetable production and marketing approaches. They will connect women-led cooperatives and youth groups to the private sector and business organizations, directly reaching more than 255,000 households. The team's work will involve further developing commercial seed production, postharvest handling, and value chains. They will also strengthen producer groups. Project leadership A consortium of five universities in Canada, Benin, and Nigeria will lead the project. They will mobilize at least 20 private sector partners and government agencies to build small and medium vegetable and fertilizer businesses. Their work will serve to double the income of approximately one million farmers in West Africa along the vegetable value chain.
Interrogating Large-Scale Land Acquisitions and Their Implications for Women in Sub-Saharan Africa
General
Despite their critical role in promoting food security on the African continent, women continue to be marginalized in the distribution and allocation of land. The implications for both family survival and national food security are far-reaching. This project will support research to examine the conditions needed to allow women to become empowered to participate in large-scale land acquisition (LSLAs) processes. The objective is to help ensure that sub-Saharan Africa puts the legal and policy frameworks in place to foster better accountability and legitimacy on issues of land governance. African women must continue to engage in food crop farming to ensure food security for their families and for the continent at large. This is only possible if their right to land is protected, respected, and fulfilled. Previous studies have shown that African women's right to land is seriously under threat. Traditionally, African women have not had equal access to land and weak land laws and governance processes related to LSLAs are further eroding their access. We are now learning more about the impact of LSLAs on livelihoods in affected communities but little evidence exists on gender differences. Little is also known about how African women have developed strategies to foster more equitable land governance policies and practices to ensure greater accountability and transparency around LSLAs. This research seeks to fill these knowledge gaps. The ultimate goal of the project is to promote land governance policies that treat both genders more equally and that contribute to greater accountability and transparency around LSLAs. The research will be implemented in six communities in three African countries: Ghana, Cameroon, and Uganda. All three have experienced LSLAs. The research team will explore the following: -land acquisition processes; -winners and losers in these transactions; -ways in which the losers (specifically, rural African women) respond to their situation; and, -extent to which these responses are successful. The project will create gender-sensitive evidence-based knowledge that can be used by women, local communities, non-state actors, and public authorities to enhance accountability and legitimacy in LSLAs processes. It will also propose gender inclusive strategies for formal and informal institutions that will respect, promote, and protect women's rights in LSLAs processes.
Managing Peatlands in Mongolia and Enhancing the Resilience of Pastoral Ecosystems and Livelihoods of Nomadic
Objectives
To develop the capacity for enhancing ecosystem services of peatlands (specifically reduction of GHG emissions from degraded peatlands) in Mongolia and the capacity of indigenous reindeer herders to reduce land degradation and improve the provision of ecosystem services and increase community resilience.
Other
Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.
Target Groups
The following section is a reproduction of the ProDoc Section on benefits (ProDoc pp. 62) This Project will support Mongolia’s LDN target of ‘Promoting sustainable grassland management and halting further grassland degradation’ and ‘Ensuring no net loss of wetlands by 2030 compared to 2015’ by putting 20,000 ha of landscapes under improved practices. The Project will reduce 30,000 t of CO2e per annum with sustainable peatland management interventions. Demonstration of successful introduction of peatlands related land use change in the NDCs of Mongolia will be a positive example for other countries and will encourage countries to include peatlands in their NDCs. The project implementation will have a significant positive impact on Mongolian part of the watershed of Lake Baikal. The sources of the main tributaries of the Lake Baikal, Orkhon and Selenga, are part of the project area. Safeguarding these sources will contribute to alleviating the current problems of the decline of the water level of Lake Baikal, the world´s largest freshwater resource. The project will develop and apply existing methods of ecosystem restoration and test them in pilots to inspire local, national and international stakeholders. Restoration of peatlands in arid and semiarid biomes, as well as restoration of permafrost is a significant challenge. By demonstration of pilots, the Project will help in meeting the targets of the UN decade of ecosystem restoration (2021-2030). Furthermore, the project will directly contribute to increasing the capacity of disadvantaged nomadic herder communities to engage in and benefit from sustainable land management efforts and adapt to environmental and human-induced changes to the rangeland habitats they depend upon. The tools and partnerships developed through the project will increase their knowledge and understanding of policy and national decision-making processes that affect the habitats they depend upon, and their livelihoods. With these capacities, herder communities will be in a better position to advocate for their sustainable model of land use in sensitive tundra and taiga landscapes and mitigate pressures to convert land to more degrading uses. Nomadic herders will enhance their resilience to changing social, environmental and climatic conditions at the global scale. An additional expected benefit of the project is community empowerment, enabling nomadic herders’ community members to participate more fully as equal partners in information sharing, education and training, technology transfer, organizational development, and policy development, thereby gaining more access to commercial, social and political opportunities. The project will also facilitate interaction between state, local authorities, industry and nomadic herders, assisting in creating dialogue, building confidence and sharing information. Further the project will: · Enhance capacity of countries to implement MEAs (multilateral environmental agreements); · provide ways and means for reducing and mitigating the effects of anthropogenic transformation, land fragmentation and degradation; · provide global support for achieving UNESCO World Heritage status for reindeer husbandry; · preserve and develop reindeer husbandry and its cultural base in the circumpolar north; and · increase the competence of the next generation concerning the central importance of indigenous pastoral systems. In addition to these benefits, the contribution of the project to the GEF Core Indicators is discussed and presented earlier.