Natural Resource Management
Community-driven natural resource management builds resilience by restoring degraded agricultural land and mitigating effects of climate and weather shocks.
Natural resources are an essential part of reducing threats from drought, erosion, flooding, and tsunamis and storm surges. But they are threatened by increasing population, climate variability, and poor management. And natural resource environments are complex. New approaches are needed to address environments in the context of a broader systems approach.
Approach
Evaluations show how to mitigate the effects of climate change and strengthen resilience. One approach is through devolved responsibility for managing natural resources. Another is an agro-ecological approach that integrates natural resource management (NMR) with agriculture. This is called farmer-managed natural resource management (FMNR).
These practices improve soil health and productivity, reduce malnutrition, and strengthen capacities to cope with drought. They also reduce women’s burden for gathering wood and mitigate the impact of climate change through carbon sequestration. Integrating natural resource management and local governance has especially strong impacts on women’s empowerment.
Evidence
In Niger and Senegal, FMNR (and other community empowerment approaches to NRM) positively impacted land use and poverty reduction. In Niger, FMNR restored 5 million hectares of landscape threatened by severe desertification into productive agroforestry land. In Senegal, NRM partnerships between citizen working groups and local governments reduced poverty across 800,000 households.
More About Natural Resource Management
Northern Kenya Violence and Conflict Assessment: Natural Resource Management and Conflict in Isiolo, Laikipia, Samburu, Turkana, and West Pokot
27 Jun 2024 - USAID/Kenya and East Africa
This USAID report on Northern Kenya assesses how Natural Resource Management (NRM) impacts violence and conflict in Isiolo, Laikipia, Samburu, Turkana, and West Pokot. For more details, read the full report here.
UN Climate Change Conference (COP28)
30 Nov 2023, GMT +4 - United Nations Climate Change
Engage with climate change leaders around the world to align efforts on climate action and assess progress since adopting the Paris Agreement.
The Potential for Nature-Based Solutions Initiatives to Incorporate and Scale Climate Adaptation
26 May 2023 - World Resources Institute
Explore the barriers nature-based solutions initiatives face in offering enhanced adaptation support and consider their potential to better incorporate climate adaptation.
Strengthening Urban Resilience with Climate Adaptation
14 Jun 2023, GMT -4 - ResilienceLinks , USAID
Explore how cities are on the front line of climate change and what investments are needed to ensure urban resilience.