Climate change adaptation projects continue amid coronavirus pandemic

From Honduras to Uzbekistan, the Adaptation Fund is helping countries build resilience to environmental, health and economic challenges.

The Fund’s climate adaptation and resilience projects are continuing to help some of the most vulnerable communities on Earth, despite the impact of the coronavirus.

In Honduras, an Adaptation Fund (AF) project funded by AF and carried out by UNDP and the Honduras government is building the resilience of natural ecosystems through reforestation and water resource management, as well as providing technical and administrative training to local municipalities. Further, to address challenges with Covid-19, an indigenous group that lives in the Central Forest Corridor decided with community leaders to go out in family brigades — household by household — in small groups to plant thousands of trees to restore ecosystem resources while limiting risk of disease spread.

In Karakalpakstan, another AF project implemented by UNDP has helped communities stay resilient during the pandemic by giving over 1,000 families in the region the resources to build their own self-sustaining greenhouses.

And in Costa Rica, an AF Direct Access project implemented by Fundecooperación para el Desarrollo Sostenible which promotes food security by empowering farmers to diversify production has, since the pandemic, put an emphasis on local production to support the local supply chain at a time when transport has been limited.

“We are facing one of the largest challenges in generations with the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Adaptation Fund manager Mikko Ollikainen.

“We see Adaptation Fund projects adapting directly to help with the crisis, and inherent adaptation measures in projects helping vulnerable communities build resilience to climate change, as well as broader resilience to environmental, health and economic challenges,” he added.

Read the full article published in Climate Home News.