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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. This page contains information about Rounds 27 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 26, please see the Darwin Initiative website -https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/
Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund
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. The UK government is committed to tackling illegal trade of wildlife products and is a long-standing leader in efforts to eradicate the IWT. Defra manages the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, which is a competitive grants scheme with the objective of tackling IWT and, in doing so, contributing to sustainable development in developing countries. Projects funded under the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund address one, or more, of the following themes: • 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 page contains information about Rounds 7 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 6, please see the IWTCF website -https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/
UK contribution to the World Bank Group PROBLUE Programme to facilitate sustainable finance for healthy oceans
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
PROBLUE is the World Bank’s leading multilateral mechanism for leveraging and disbursing blue finance towards sustainable ocean sectors and activities. It is a multi-donor trust fund that supports the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, Life Below Water, and the Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. PROBLUE aims to do this by reducing the existing blue finance gap by creating the necessary enabling environment for public and private sectors to shift from unsustainable to sustainable activities.
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. This page contains information about Main Rounds 10 onwards and Darwin Plus Local 1 onwards. For information about previous Rounds, please see the Darwin Plus website -https://darwinplus.org.uk/
Legacy Landscapes Fund
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
Legacy Landscapes Fund aims to guarantee long-term conservation funding to protect biodiversity, promote climate resilience, and foster equitable development in some of the world’s most outstanding landscapes. The UK will work together with LLF and its partners to help narrow the biodiversity finance gap and deliver the global 30by30 target on land by sourcing significant and sustained funding for protected areas with high biodiversity and critical ecosystems. LLF are a multi-donor conservation trust fund established in 2020 that deliver long-term support to vital protected areas and their buffer zones in the global south. Their ambition is to fund 30 landscapes by 2030, and they benefit from partnerships with a range of public and private donors and NGOs who provide strategic support and effective, inclusive implementation. Central to LLF's approach is an understanding that long term and predictable funding helps them to deliver better outcomes and builds capacity more effectively. LLF, it's partners and Defra are committed to the equitable delivery of 30by30, and this funding will focus on maximising benefits for Indigenous peoples and local communities and promoting gender equity.
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.
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.
Enhancing the bilateral relationship between the UK and Laos
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
This programme will consist of six small projects that will all work towards supporting our overall Embassy Country Business Plan goals. This will specifically include – - Supporting poverty reduction - Improving basic healthcare - Empowering the participation of women in defending environmental rights - Implementing a mobile veterinary unit in Laos - Enhancing the collaboration of the UK and Lao government through supporting attendance at global conferences
Investing in Nature, Forests and Land Use (INAFOLU)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To increase levels of investment – public, private, domestic, and international – in Indonesia’s forests and terrestrial biodiversity in support of the Government of Indonesia’s (GoI) ambitions for economic and social development in ways that directly contribute to its international climate commitments. The programme will achieve this by partnering with Indonesia to increase investment in conserving intact forests, restoring peat and other degraded lands, accelerating reforestation, preventing fires, tackling the key drivers of deforestation, and facilitating growth of ‘forest-friendly’ small and medium-scale businesses. INAFOLU will form the UK’s principal contribution in the forest and land sector towards Indonesia’s commitment to reducing its carbon emissions by 43% against ‘business as usual’ growth, a commitment which is described by the Government of Indonesia as its ‘high ambition scenario’ and which is conditional on sufficient international support.
Catalytic Climate Action in Iraq - National Determined Contirbution , Energy, Water and Drought Management
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
Iraq is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change both in its effects and to global mitigation as a hydrocarbon-dependent economy. This three-year programme, with a £5m resource envelope, aims to accelerate climate resilient and low carbon development in Iraq. It will work with the Government of Iraq (GoI), across the multilateral system and with international partners to promote transformational, long-term change. It will build the capacity of the Government of Iraq to mitigate and adapt to climate change with support for energy sector transition, fiscal sustainability, water governance and drought management.
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Core Contribution 2021-2026
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To achieve a future that avoids, minimizes, and reverses land degradation and mitigates the effects of drought in affected areas at all levels and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and within the scope of the Convention
Somaliland Development Fund (SDF) Phase II Programme
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To improve governance, accountability and public service delivery by the Government of Somaliland. This will promote long-term stability in the region and improve the lives of poor Somalilanders. This programme contributes to our SDGs by delivering public services, and building core government capacity and functions and will result in improved planning and delivery for development priorities by 2022.
Central Asia Small Projects Programme
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
This programme will provide the mechanism for embassies to develop small projects to further the aims of the Country Business Plans and develop learning to support wider programming initiatives, with the overall aim of supporting development in the region.
Climate Action for a Resilient Asia
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
A Technical Assistance facility will build capacity of national and subnational governments and vulnerable communities to integrate climate resilience into government-wide policy and planning and also work with the private sector, banks and financial regulators to support the integration of climate-related risks into investment decisions. A portion of the programme budget will be earmarked for coordinated policy work and regional cooperation in specific sectors or themes which require a regional approach where we have existing successful regional partnerships which can be scaled up, and or there is demand from country offices for a multi-country approach. Enable management of the programme including monitoring and evaluation, research, knowledge dissemination, communication, advisory support to country offices if required.
Supporting a Just Rural Transition to Sustainable Agriculture
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The programme will support the agenda of repurposing agricultural subsidies, to drive transformation of food systems and land use as a key shift in the global fight against climate change. It will frame an overall approach within the international system, developing understanding and commitments, and help developing countries to work through options and implement policy reforms.
Pioneering a Holistic approach to Energy and Nature-based Options in MENA for Long-term stability - PHENOMENAL
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To tackle water scarcity, build adaptation and resilience and scale up International Climate Finance in the Middle East and North Africa.
International Programme Fund (IPF) FY24/25
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
International Programme Fund (IPF) supports ODA projects looking at the promotion of the welfare and economic development in Fiji.
Climate and Ocean Adaptation and Sustainable Transition (COAST) programme
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The Climate and Ocean Adaptation and Sustainable Transition (COAST) programme aims to improve vulnerable coastal communities' resilience to climate change and prosperity from a more sustainable use of their marine environment. COAST will achieve this through a multi-component approach focused on: i) protecting and restoring coastal habitats providing nature based solutions (e.g. mangroves, seagrass, coral reefs), ii) improving small scale fisheries management, governance, sustainability and productivity, iii) scaling more sustainable, climate resilient, low carbon aquaculture production by coastal communities and the private sector, and iv) strengthening coastal planning and governance. COAST will focus in up to six priority countries, first building evidence around themes ii) and iii) and supporting science based blue carbon policies, followed by regulatory strengthening and grants for local level projects. COAST is part of the UK's £500m Blue Planet Fund portfolio.
The Amazon Catalyst for Forest Communities (AMCAT)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The Amazon Catalyst for Forest Communities (AMCAT) will invest up to £94 million of UK ODA over six years (2025-2030) to strengthen the forest governance and forest tenure security of Indigenous People and local communities (IPLC) across the Amazon Basin. It will work directly with IPLC organisations in up to eight Amazon countries, and catalyse further action across the region strengthening knowledge and influence and enabling groups to secure additional finance to magnify impact regionwide.
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