The board of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) is supporting a plan aimed at protecting rural communities in Ethiopia from climate-related shocks and enhancing food security.
As part of CIF's Nature, People, and Climate programme, the lender is making a $37m investment that it expects to mobilise $492m in co-financing from partners such as the World Bank and African Development Bank.
Girma Amente, Ethiopia's Minister of Agriculture, said: “This endorsement underscores the recognition of Ethiopia's vulnerability to climate change and its unwavering commitment to build resilience through implementing innovative and transformative nature-based solutions.”
Ethiopia, one of Africa's largest and most densely populated countries, relies heavily on its land for economic sustainability.
Over 70% of Ethiopians reside in rural areas where agriculture is the primary income source.
Notably, approximately 45% of Ethiopia's coffee, the country's main export, originates from natural forests.
The investment plan seeks to tackle climate change and land degradation.
CIF funding will target forests, including the wild Arabica coffee forests, farmlands, and rangelands in Amhara, Oromia, South Ethiopia, and Somali regions.
CIF CEO Tariye Gbadegesin said: “By investing in sustainable livelihoods and farming practices, Ethiopia can not only reduce harmful emissions and protect natural carbon sinks but also boost economic opportunities and bolster rural communities against climate-related shocks.”
CIF said with its resources approximately 322,276ha of degraded landscapes and ecosystems will be restored and an online national forest registry will be established.
The plan involves working with local communities to focus on degraded land recovery through afforestation, reforestation, and assisted natural regeneration for soil and water conservation.
In addition, the initiative aims to reduce forest pressure, a major source of fuel and timber, by creating new income opportunities.
These include carbon credits for forest conservation and support for non-timber forest product farmers, such as those producing gum, resin, honey, bamboo, fruits, spices and coffee.
Women farmers, “who play a crucial role” in Ethiopia's food production, will benefit from a dedicated component of the investment plan, CIF said.
The investment will empower them to have a “stronger voice” in local decision-making, move to “higher-value activities” such as honey production and ecotourism, climate-smart farming, and women-led agricultural cooperatives, it added.
CIF’s announcement comes as countries have gathered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to discuss the issue of land degradation, which is said to affect three billion people globally.
Speaking at the 16th COP session of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Abdulrahman Alfadley, Saudi Arabia's Environment, Water, and Agriculture Minister, highlighted that three billion people worldwide are affected by degraded land, warning this will “increase levels of migration, stability and insecurity among many communities”.
