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- The UK will fund research grants for locally-led research, innovation and action to help people and nature thrive.
- The new Nature Facility will enable the UK to deliver ‘nature-proof’ aid commitments.
The UK has launched a program to fund research and innovation to develop bottom-up and locally-led approaches to protecting and restoring the natural environment.
The Reversing Environmental Degradation in Africa and Asia (REDAA) program will tackle the destruction of nature and biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia and South Asia. Through in-country research and people-driven action, the program will support work to improve the condition of natural landscapes and promote the resilience of local communities.
Organizations located across Africa and Asia can apply for research grants to research local ecosystems and their links to livelihoods, and to develop innovative and appropriate technological approaches to environmental management, conservation and restoration.
To implement the UK’s commitment to take action to ensure that all new UK bilateral aid spending is nature positive, the UK has also launched a new Nature Facility. The new facility will use expert insight to support FCDO’s development activity to ensure that bilateral aid also supports nature conservation and restoration.
This builds on the 10 Point Plan on Financing Biodiversity, co-launched by the UK at the UN General Assembly in September, which calls on donor countries to ensure that ODA delivers nature-positive outcomes.
Speaking at COP15, FCDO Minister for Climate and Environment, Lord Zac Goldsmith said:
Through REDAA and the Nature Facility, we are using our ODA as a catalyst to unlock more public and private finance for nature.
We are starting to see the commitments made at COP26 being translated into action. Countries, businesses and financial institutions have embarked on a journey towards a nature positive economy. UK is also playing our part.
Lord Goldsmith’s speech REDAA-supported research has found that nature-based solutions implemented at the local level are critical to addressing inequality. Effective measures to restore nature help create jobs and increase incomes for the poor and vulnerable, it is estimated that increased investment in nature-based solutions could generate more than 20 million jobs worldwide.
The program is part of the UK’s commitment to spend £11.6 billion on international climate finance, to address the urgent impacts of climate change and support a just transition to environmentally sustainable economies and societies.
The UK’s COP26 presidency last year emphasized the critical role of nature in achieving both climate change and sustainable development goals. In 2021, the UK committed £3 billion of its international climate finance to support nature and biodiversity.
Notes to editors
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REDAA is being implemented with the International Institute for Environment and Development.
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The ILO-UNEP-IUCN report, ‘Decent work in nature-based solutions 2022’ can be found here: ILO-UNEP-IUCN Joint Report: Decent work in nature-based solutions 2022
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