Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain Solutions

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

This activity supports a number of different areas of work which aim to accelerate the climate benefits of the Kigali Amendment (KA) to the Montreal Protocol (MP) and encourage uptake of energy efficient and climate friendly solutions. This includes (1) The creation of an African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chains (ACES) in Rwanda. ACES will accelerate deployment of sustainable (environmental, economic and social) cold-chain solutions throughout Africa. (2) The development and deployment of an HFC outlook model to address information gaps on energy use and energy related CO2 emissions from the refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pumps (RACHP) market. It will assist in reducing cost of the transition for Article 5 countries to the Montreal Protocol and increase the climate benefit of action under the MP. (3) Increasing countries technical capacity and providing insights on global best practice of EE improvements of cooling products in parallel with HFC phase down, through model regulations and sustainable public procurement in ASEAN and Africa.

A contribution to Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA) the United Nations Development Programme Biodiversity Finance Initiative (Biofin) to support delivery of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The programme will support low and lower-middle income countries to grow their economies in ways that help to protect and restore their natural capital and so drive sustainable economic development. It is designed to provide practical support to governments, businesses, and financial institutions to integrate nature into their economic and financial decision-making, understand and manage nature-related risks, and capitalise on growing opportunities to invest in their natural assets. As such, it will support low and lower-middle income countries to transition to nature positive, net zero economies and so protect the poorest communities. Through an integrated set of activities, the programme will deliver the following outcomes: • Private Sector Disclosure Readiness: private sector actors in low and lower-middle income countries – including financial institutions, businesses, and policy-makers - will have the tools they need to understand and manage nature-related financial risk. In particular, the programme will ensure that key institutions have the tools and capacity to respond to growing demand to disclose nature-related financial risk. • Integrating nature at country level: governmental and regulatory decision-makers in low and lower-middle income countries will have the knowledge, skills and data to design and implement policies and programmes that will help to manage nature-related risks, unlock new nature markets, and rebuild natural capital. • Action Plans for Nature: partner governments will develop clear and comprehensive plans to finance the protection and restoration of nature. These plans will act as platforms to mobilise and guide both public and private financial flows. • Evidence Sharing Mechanisms on Nature: better evidence will be available to, and used by, decision makers in low and lower middle-income countries to guide their work. The programme will help to build the evidence about how to best integrate consideration of the natural environment into economic and financial decision making. It will also help decision-makers in governments and the private sector to access and use that evidence easily by building communities of practice and robust approaches to sharing knowledge and information. The outcomes will support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), agreed at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting COP15. As protection and restoration of critical ecosystems is also critical to tackling climate change, it will also support the UK goal to keep global temperature rises within 1.5c degrees.

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund Round 7

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a widespread and lucrative criminal activity causing major global environmental and social harm. The IWT has been estimated to be worth up to £17 billion a year. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora are impacted, with almost every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade.

• Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT,

• Strengthening law enforcement,

• Ensuring effective legal frameworks,

• Reducing demand for IWT products.

By 2023 over £51 million has been committed to 157 projects since the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund was established in 2013. This round of funding includes the following projects: IWT086 to IWT107. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/illegal-wildlife-trade-challenge-fund-iwtcf (Language: English)

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund Round 8

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a widespread and lucrative criminal activity causing major global environmental and social harm. The IWT has been estimated to be worth up to £17 billion a year. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora are impacted, with almost every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade.

• Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT,

• Strengthening law enforcement,

• Ensuring effective legal frameworks,

• Reducing demand for IWT products.

By 2023 over £51 million has been committed to 157 projects since the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund was established in 2013. This round of funding includes the following projects: IWTEX001, IWTEV001-008, IWT108-120. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/illegal-wildlife-trade-challenge-fund-iwtcf (Language: English)

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund Round 9

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a widespread and lucrative criminal activity causing major global environmental and social harm. The IWT has been estimated to be worth up to £17 billion a year. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora are impacted, with almost every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade.

• Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT,

• Strengthening law enforcement,

• Ensuring effective legal frameworks,

• Reducing demand for IWT products.

By 2023 over £51 million has been committed to 157 projects since the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund was established in 2013. This round of funding includes the following projects: IWTEX002-003, IWTEV009-018, IWT121-129. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/illegal-wildlife-trade-challenge-fund-iwtcf (Language: English)

Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature (OCEAN)

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature (OCEAN) Grants Programme is a competitive grants scheme to support projects that aim to deliver lasting change to the marine environment and coastal communities. The programme is funded through Official Development Assistance (ODA) as part of the UK’s £500 million Blue Planet Fund. In the last 10 years, less than 1% (around USD ~$13 billion) of the total value of the ocean has been invested in sustainable projects, even though the ocean supports the livelihoods of 1 in 10 people globally. OCEAN seeks to redress this imbalance and support people and communities who have most acutely and disproportionately been impacted by climate change. Organisations including Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) can submit applications for funding to deliver projects in ODA eligible countries. There are two pots of funding available to bid for, with a smaller pot of up to £250,000 being targeted for small scale, local, in-country organisations and a larger one of up to £3 million to support organisations that can fund large-scale activities and scale up effective solutions. OCEAN directly supports the International Development Strategy, which emphasises the necessity of localising ODA. The fund’s long-term objective is to increase the capacity of local organisations to drive equitable and inclusive decision-making, which will in turn enable communities to manage and benefit from marine ecosystems sustainably. An investment of up to £60 million for OCEAN was announced by the Environment Secretary, Steve Barclay, in December 2023 at COP28 in Dubai.

GEOGLAM - UK Contribution to The Group on Earth Observation's Global Agricultural Monitoring Initiative is to increase market transparency and improve food security.

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The purpose of Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring Initiative (GEOGLAM) is to increase market transparency and improve food security by producing and disseminating relevant, timely, and actionable information on agricultural conditions and outlooks of production at national, regional, and global scales. It achieves this by strengthening the international community’s capacity to utilize coordinated, comprehensive, and sustained Earth observations. GEO is an intergovernmental organisation that works to improve the availability, access and use of earth observations (EO) globally, primarily targeted at the sustainable development goals (SDGs), Paris climate agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The GEOGLAM policy mandate initially came from the Group of Twenty (G20) Agriculture Ministers during the French G20 Presidency in 2011. The mandate has expanded parallel to the G20 mandate to include food security concerns and we now work to support early warning for international agency response to emerging food emergencies. GEOGLAM has produced Stocktaking reports for the G20 in recent years. These reports are available for 2021, 2022 and 2023. GEOGLAM is working on a response to the three big policy drivers of our time: UN Sustainable Development Goals; the Paris Accord on Climate Change; and, the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction. Through the development of quantified metrics GEOGLAM will be able to work with other science communities and statistical agencies to develop policy relevant information in support of sustainable food production. GEOGLAM is a Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Flagship Initiative.

International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime Strategic Vision 2030

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a lucrative transnational crime which undermines governance, fuels corruption, creates instability, threatens species with extinction and deprives some of the world’s poorest communities of sustainable livelihoods. The International Consortium on Combatting Wildlife Crime (ICCWC)’s Strategic Vision 2030 programme involves a global collaborative effort of inter-governmental organisations, which aims to create a fit for purpose law enforcement and criminal justice system that effectively addresses wildlife crime. The ICCWC Vision 2030 programme will guide ICCWC interventions through a series of targeted approaches to achieve the five outcomes: 1) reduced opportunity for wildlife crime, 2) increased deterrence of wildlife crime, 3) increase detection of wildlife crime, 4) increase disruption and detention of criminals, and 5) evidence-based action, knowledge exchange and collaboration. Defra’s funding will contribute towards delivering the interventions for outcomes 3, 4 and 5. Implementation of activities will develop capacity within, and provide support to, wildlife authorities, police, customs, and justice systems in strategically important developing countries, to ensure that they effectively respond to and address wildlife crime. The strategy shifts involvement in the IWT to a high-risk low-reward environment. Reduced IWT will help alleviate poverty, biodiversity loss and climate change. The collaborative global working of ICCWC combines partners with diverse and extensive experiences and brings together countries impacted by IWT to yield more effective results in addressing wildlife crime.

Cities4Forests Phase 2

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Cities4Forests programme provides a network between cities in developing nations working to implement nature-based solutions, to restore and protect forests, and to share lessons learned. This allows best practice to be identified and adopted across cities’ interventions and facilitates accelerated innovation. Defra’s investment in Cities4Forests will finance specific activities that will help decision makers and officials in cities, in a number of developing countries, access tools, resources and technical assistance that can support them in developing policies and interventions to protect and restore forests. The programme will also seek to deliver a ‘global mayoral declaration’ and other nature-based solutions on the value of trees and forests and their role in combatting climate change. The programme will focus on: strengthening institutional capacity and capability through technical assistance to improve developing country’s city government support for and investment in trees, forests, and green infrastructure; supporting developing country’s city governments to increase investment (political, economic, and social) and implement new and/or improved programs to support the management and conservation of inner and nearby forests; supporting and encouraging developing country mayors to increase political action and support for trees and forests as a solution for combatting climate change, supporting better water management, and improving human health and well-being.

Low-carbon Agriculture for avoided deforestation and poverty reduction Phase II (Rural Sustentavel)

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The programme has 3 projects; PRS Caatinga, PRS Cerrado and PRS Amazon. As a follow-up phase to a similar ICF intervention in Brazil, the programme aims to restore deforested and degraded land on small- and medium-sized farms and promote low carbon agriculture practises.

Darwin Initiative

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Darwin Initiative is the UK’s flagship international challenge fund for biodiversity conversation and poverty reduction, established at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Darwin Initiative is a grant scheme working on projects that aim to slow, halt, or reverse the rates of biodiversity loss and degradation, with associated reductions in multidimensional poverty. To date, the Darwin Initiative has awarded more than £195m to over 1,280 projects in 159 countries to enhance the capability and capacity of national and local stakeholders to deliver biodiversity conservation and multidimensional poverty reduction outcomes in low and middle-income countries. More information at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-darwin-initiative and https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/

Darwin Plus

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

Darwin Plus is a UK government grants scheme that helps deliver long-term strategic outcomes for the unique biodiversity, the natural environment and improving resilience to climate change within the UK Overseas Territories. It also also provides funding to build capacity through training and education opportunities for UKOT nationals. Part of Darwin Plus is ODA funded to support Overseas Territories Montserrat, St Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Pitcairn Island.

Funding to build capacity and support cross-border action on the conservation of wildlife within countries in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA)

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The funding will be used to support KAZA countries to develop African-led trans-frontier approaches to support conservation of wildlife, including iconic species such as elephants through efforts in integrated land-use planning, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, community livelihoods and illegal wildlife trade. This funding will be used to provide technical assistance and build capacity within the KAZA countries to address areas for immediate action, provide a foundation for future work programmes and support access to wider funding options.

Establishing and enhancing veterinary surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

This project aims to help establish effective surveillance for longer term capacity building for AMR in the terrestrial and aquatic veterinary sectors in selected LMICs, and to enhance veterinary medicines regulatory training.

Darwin Initiative Round 24

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grants scheme that helps to protect biodiversity and the natural environment through locally based projects worldwide. The initiative funds projects that help countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to meet their objectives under one or more of the biodiversity conventions. The objective is to to address threats to biodiversity such as: - habitat loss or degradation - climate change - invasive species - over-exploitation - pollution and eutrophication

Darwin Initiative Round 25

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grants scheme that helps to protect biodiversity and the natural environment through locally based projects worldwide. The initiative funds projects that help countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to meet their objectives under one or more of the biodiversity conventions. The objective is to to address threats to biodiversity such as: - habitat loss or degradation - climate change - invasive species - over-exploitation - pollution and eutrophication

UK Annual Contributions to the Montreal Protocol Trust Fund, Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund and Vienna Convention Trust Fund

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

This activity supports an annual UK contribution to The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer which is a multilateral environmental agreement with universal ratification. It regulates the production and consumption of ozone depleting substances (ODS). Protection of the ozone layer is vital in preventing increased UV radiation, resulting in higher incidence of skin cancers and eye cataracts, more-compromised immune systems, and negative effects on watersheds, agricultural lands and forests. The Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol was established in 1991. The Fund's objective is to provide financial and technical assistance to developing country parties to the Montreal Protocol whose annual per capita consumption and production of ODS is less than 0.3 kg to comply with the control measures of the Protocol. The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer is a multilateral environmental agreement signed in 1985 that provided frameworks for international reductions in the production of chlorofluorocarbons due to their contribution to the destruction of the ozone layer, resulting in an increased threat of skin cancer.

Annual contribution to the United Nations Environment Trust Fund of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

This activity supports an annual UK contribution to the IPBES. IPBES is a science-policy platform providing comprehensive, credible and legitimate scientific knowledge about Earth’s essential life support systems and their contribution to human well-being; as well as tools and local capacity to help decision makers around the world identify solutions to pressures on ecosystems, sustainable use of natural resources and related poverty. Contributions to the IPBES Trust Fund are used to meet the running costs and support developing country expert engagement in delivering the work programme agreed by member governments at the Plenary meetings.

Funding to support delivery of ODA eligible programming delivered by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew provides an international centre of expertise and benefits to developing countries, including through collections and seed banks, agricultural science including collaboration with the ODA eligible Global Crop Diversity Trust, plant health including diagnosis of plant pests and diseases and biosecurity, capacity building (CBD, CITES, Nagoya Protocol, IPBES), M&E of ICF, advice on climate change resilience.

Supporting Montserrat and St Helena to enhance welfare and development through improved environmental management.

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

This programme is delivered by JNCC and aims to improve environmental management. This includes better management of water resources, fisheries and landscapes and to enhance economic security, welfare and development of local communities dependent on the natural environment for their livelihoods. This includes farmers dependent on scarce water resources and island communities where better fisheries management increases food supply and incomes. Landscape scale management enhances security of food and water supply and reduces vulnerability to natural disasters such as drought or storm associated flooding and coastal hurricane storm surge.