The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the governments of Malawi, Eritrea, and Kiribati, announced three new climate-resilience investments aimed at helping rural communities restore ecosystems, strengthen adaptive capacity, protect biodiversity, and improve livelihoods. The GEF approved over US$44.5 million in financing, supplemented by more than US$80 million in co-financing, including US$48.5 million from IFAD. These investments will fund innovative, ecosystem-based, and community-driven projects implemented by the partner governments in countries highly vulnerable to climate shocks. Juan Carlos Mendoza Casadiegos, Director of IFAD’s Environment, Climate, Gender, and Social Inclusion Division, emphasized that these projects exemplify IFAD’s vision of climate-resilient development led by rural communities, integrating environmental restoration with economic opportunities.
In Eritrea, the Community-Based Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Restoration project will integrate climate-smart, nutrition-sensitive, and fisheries-based livelihoods into the national adaptation program. The project will restore 3,500 hectares of degraded mangroves, conserve key coastal and marine habitats, and enhance climate resilience by 20 percent. It empowers 21,320 households to take part in community-led coastal restoration, promoting stewardship of their marine and coastal ecosystems, with a total investment of approximately US$32 million.
Kiribati will benefit from the Enhancing & Sustaining Kiribati’s Resilient Future project, an eight-year initiative targeting vulnerable atoll communities facing climate change impacts. The project adopts a systems-based “blue-green” approach, linking climate-adaptive land use planning, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, water security, climate-smart agriculture, and sustainable energy. It aims to strengthen institutions and data systems, restore ecosystems, promote low-carbon solutions, and support inclusive, climate-resilient livelihoods, with a total investment of nearly US$51 million.
In Malawi, the Resilient Integrated Livestock and Aquaculture Project (RILAP) will combine livestock, aquaculture, and fisheries development with sustainable land management to create a coherent production and value-chain system. The project aims to restore over 50,000 hectares of land, improve the management of 59,000 hectares to benefit biodiversity, and put another 59,000 hectares under sustainable land management in production systems. The initiative is expected to mitigate 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions and reach approximately 30,000 people, with an investment of around US$32 million.
These three projects collectively demonstrate IFAD and GEF’s commitment to supporting climate-resilient development that empowers rural communities, strengthens ecosystems, and promotes sustainable livelihoods across diverse geographic and environmental contexts.
