Success Stories
Agriculture | Cities | Energy | Financing | Forests | Resilience | Transportation
Agriculture
GalleryHaiti’s community gardeners enthusiastic about nutrition
To prevent deterioration and destruction further in Haiti’s Grand’Anse, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners launched a project that has improved both nutrition and livelihoods for more than 5,000 of the most vulnerable in the area. The project has provided women with practical hands-on training in homestead food-production techniques, combined with classes that introduce them to the importance of making pro-nutrition decisions about what they plant and feed to their families.
Dinner on the roof
In July 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched a project to improve the food security of families, with the support of the Kingdom of Belgium. Four women’s associations and a local NGO – Palestine Tomorrow for Social Development (PTSD) – worked jointly with FAO to support vulnerable urban families, mostly female-headed, to setup small sustainable food production activities, in order to combat poverty and malnutrition and reach self-sufficiency.
GalleryProtecting their crops through green technologies, Caribbean women fend for themselves
With UN Women support, the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) has led a project focused on women agricultural producers’ role in sustainable development in the Caribbean. Implemented in Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica, the project aims to reduce women’s lack of access to resources.
GalleryFamilies in Bangladesh learn to cope with storms and cyclones
The World Food Programme (WFP) has been working with the Government of Bangladesh to provide training and cash for work programmes that help locals to build or renovate community assets as a direct result of climate change. In Patharghata alone, some 4,500 ultra-poor women and men from three separate communities have participated in an “Enhancing Resilience” or ER programme that was launched in 2011.
Livestock waste management in East Asia
The FAO-led Livestock Waste Management in East Asia Project supported by Global Environment Facility/United Nations Environment Programme was aimed to reduce the major negative environmental and health impacts of rapidly increasing concentrated livestock production on water bodies and thus on the people in three countries of the East Asia region: China, Thailand and Viet Nam. In these countries, 500,000 pig places were introduced to better manage livestock waste, improving livelihoods and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture for food security in Nicaragua
To protect Estero Real, the north Pacific coast of Nicaragua, national and local fisheries and aquaculture institutions in Nicaragua have led the implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture in this area. The Food and Agriculture Organization has supported this initiative through participatory planning and development of management plans.
GalleryClimate-smart agriculture: A readiness project in Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia
The FAO project “Climate Smart Agriculture: capturing the synergies among mitigation, adaptation and food security” aims to strengthen the technical, policy and investment capacities of its three partner countries – Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia at a national level, which will enable sustainable increases in agricultural productivity.
Sustainable grazing for better livelihoods in China
The Three River Sustainable Grazing Project is a pilot project in the Quinghai province of China that aims to address the challenges of degraded grasslands and poor pasture management. The project’s goal is to restore degraded grazing land and sequester soil carbon, and at the same time increase productivity, build resilience and improve livelihoods in smallholder herder communities.
GalleryAdaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme in Bangladesh
Smallholder farmers provide nearly 80 per cent of the food in many parts of the developing world. The Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme channels climate finance to smallholder farmers so they can access the tools and technologies that help build their resilience to climate change.
Cities
Gallery1 Million Women Initiative in Australia
The organization 1 Million Women aims to get one million women to pledge to take small steps in their daily lives that save energy, reduce waste, cut pollution and lead change. Since its creation in 2009, the organization has become the largest women’s environmental organization in Australia, with nearly 83,000 women having joined the campaign, and members have committed to cut over 100,000 tonnes of carbon pollution.
Ecocasa low-carbon housing in Mexico
The Ecocasa Program supports the construction of 27,000 efficient homes that will help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in Mexico, while improving the quality of life of the low-income families who live in these houses. The program also provides financial incentives and technical assistance to housing developers to achieve higher levels of energy efficiency, and thus contribute to transform the housing sector in line with the country”s objectives on climate change.
Energy
Rachel Kyte Chosen to Lead Sustainable Energy for All
Charles O. Holliday, Jr., Chair of the Executive Committee of Sustainable Energy for All, today announced that Rachel Kyte has been selected as Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative.
Invest in cities, renewable energy, UN envoy Michael Bloomberg tells conference in India
Welcoming India’s efforts to confront climate change, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, Michael Bloomberg, said today that the country was incredibly well placed to capitalise on the benefits of renewable energy.
CookUp Solutions launched by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
To reduce CO2 emissions by 25—50 per cent and save millions of lives, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched CookUp Solutions Project that frees up time for school or other income-generating activities.
Mothers Lighting Up Homes and Communities in Rural India
Rural mothers who were trained at the Barefoot College in Tilonia in the state of Rajasthan in India install and maintain solar energy panels. The programme is part of the “Rural Women Light up Africa” initiative, a partnership between UN Women and the Barefoot College, in 2011.
Change in energy efficiency building policies in Kyrgyzstan
In November 2008, the Government of Kyrgyzstan set a goal to reduce energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector by between 30 and 40 per cent by 2020. With support from UNDP and financing from the Global Environment Facility, the Government adopted internationally-recognized building energy performance codes, trained building and construction professionals in their implementation, and established a system to monitor energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector.
Solar stations in Cambodia
The two solar stations, funded by the Global Environment Facility Small Grant Program help provide rural households with access to clean energy, contributing to curbing carbon emission, especially from local power generators. As a result of the program, villagers save 500 riel per battery, a significant amount for most people who live on just 3,871 riel (less than US $1) a day
GallerySolar-powered ovens in Mauritania
A pilot project from the Association Nazaha for health and the environment set up a solar-powered oven in the village, and things have changed since then. The project, which was funded with about $50,000 from the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Program and the UN Development Programme, aims to strengthen the capacity of communities, empower women and reduce poverty while ensuring new sustainable and environmentally-friendly technologies are put to use.
Pollinate Energy: Clean Energy for India”s Urban Communities
Pollinate Energy trains members of the local community in Bangalore, India, to distribute and install solar lighting systems as micro-entrepreneurs, or what the organization calls “Pollinators.”
Climate Finance
Action on climate change set to be a key driver of Post-2015 Agenda
Efforts to tackle climate change and its impacts represent an important component of the Synthesis Report of the Secretary-General on the Post-2015 Agenda, an advance copy of which was presented Thursday to the General Assembly.
“We […]
African Carbon Asset Development (ACAD)
ACAD is a public-private partnership spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme and its Risoe Centre. Formed in late 2009 in cooperation with Standard Bank, ACAD acts as a catalytic platform that provides seed funding and advises green entrepreneurs on how to generate carbon credits and invest in low-carbon initiatives.
African Rural Energy Enterprise Development Phase II (AREED II)
The United Nations Environment Programme”s African Rural Energy Enterprise Development Programme (AREED) operates in Africa to develop new sustainable energy enterprises that use clean, efficient, and renewable energy technologies. As a result of the programme, more than 500 entrepreneurs have received enterprise development training to create or improve their businesses.
Mediterranean Investment Facility in Europe, Central Asia, and North Africa
The Mediterranean Investment Facility (MIF) is an initiative led by the UN Environment Programme with financial backing from the Italian Ministry for Environment Land and Sea. MIF helps establish innovative financing mechanisms to support renewable energy and energy efficiency systems as well as allow end-users to invest in renewable energies. MIF works in concert with electricity utilities, policy makers, technology suppliers, installers and local banks.
Forests
GalleryFollowing UN Climate Summit commitment, McDonald’s announces initiative to combat deforestation
Comprehensive Plan Addresses All Products; Reaffirms Sustainable Sourcing Priorities
Following its commitment at the United Nations Climate Summit, food chain McDonald’s today announced a global commitment on deforestation across the company’s global supply chain.
The pledge encompasses […]
Forestry Countries Call for International Partnerships to Achieve Emissions Reductions
Colombia, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica and other important forestry countries launched today a global challenge to form alliances which allow them to increase their climate ambitions. These nations committed themselves to quantifying additional areas for […]
GalleryPlant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign
The objective of the Billion Tree Campaign is to encourage people, communities, organizations, business and industry, civil society and governments to collectively plant at least one billion trees worldwide each year.
GalleryGuatemala – Alliance for International Reforestation
In 1998, a group of women farmers in Itzapa, Guatemala, partnered with AIRES (Alianza Internacional de Reforestacion) to learn how to farm with trees, in order to prevent soil erosion, mitigate climate change and improve crop yields and diversity without using dangerous chemicals. The women farmers planted thousands of native trees each year, trees that are growing and sequestering carbon into the future.
Preserving the Agro-forestry system on mount Kilimajaro, Tanzania
The “Kihamba” agroforestry system that has a multi-layered vegetation structure covers 120,000 hectares of Mount Kilimanjaro’s southern slopes. It is one of the most sustainable forms of upland farming and supports one of the highest rural population densities in Africa, providing livelihoods for an estimated one million people.
Mitigation/ Resilience
Preserving the balance between business and nature in Mexico
UN Women supports indigenous women in advancing their rights by strengthening the institutional capacity of the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples, through a partnership agreement signed in 2008 with the Mexican Government.
Lives saved in Viet Nam by involving women in disaster planning
UN Women works to strengthen the role of women in disaster risk-reduction and disaster-reduction management. Through the training of women in disaster management, as well as national lobbying, the contribution of women has been recognized and a government decree now gives the Women’s Union an official space in decision-making bodies.
Putting women at the forefront of climate change and disaster response in the pacific
UN Women is working with climate-change and disaster-management professionals across the Pacific by provides training, support and resources to climate-change and disaster-management professionals in the Pacific in order to help them take the differing needs of women and men into account.
Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Bangladesh
www.actionaid.org/bangladesh
Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction in Bangladesh is a women-centred initiative that helps communities in Bangladesh adapt to climate change by addressing extreme weather conditions such as cyclones and flooding, as well as […]
Transportation
UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Group to issue recommendations for sustainable transport
Sustainable transport essential element for achieving new global goals and the low carbon economy
New York, 11 June – A high-level advisory group, established by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, agreed today to take measures that […]
GalleryShare the Road in Sub- Saharan Africa
Share the Road is a UN Environment Programme initiative, developed with the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society. It brings together the environment and safety agendas in the context of urban transport in the developing world where the majority, pedestrians and cyclists, are disadvantaged on the road. The overall goal is to catalyse government and donor policies for systematic investments in walking and cycling road infrastructure.
GalleryBamboo Bikes Initiative in Ghana
The Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative addresses climate change, poverty, rural-urban migration and youth unemployment by creating jobs for young people, especially women, through the building of high quality bamboo bicycles. Compared to the production of traditional metal bicycles, bamboo bikes require less electricity and no hazardous chemicals.
Follow us