The UK has launched the implementation of a programme to fund
research and innovation to develop bottom-up and locally-led
approaches to protecting and restoring natural environments.
The Reversing Environmental Degradation in Africa and Asia
(REDAA) programme will tackle the destruction of nature and
biodiversity across sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia and South
Asia. Through in-country research and people-driven action, the
programme will support work to improve the condition of natural
landscapes and bolster local communities’ resilience.
Institutions based across Africa and Asia can apply for research
grants, to research local ecosystems and their links to
livelihoods, and develop innovative and appropriate technical
approaches for environmental management, conservation and
restoration.
The UK has also launched a new Nature Facility, to implement the
UK’s commitment to take steps to ensure all new UK bilateral aid
spending becomes nature positive. The new Facility will use
expert insight to support the FCDO’s development activity to
ensure that bilateral aid also supports the protection and
restoration of nature.
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 ODA delivers
nature-positive outcomes.
Speaking at COP15, FCDO Minister for Climate and
Environment, Lord , 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 beginning to see the commitments made at COP26 translate
into actions. Countries, businesses, and financial institutions
have begun the journey towards a nature positive
economy. The UK is playing our part too.
Lord Goldsmith’s speech comes as REDAA-supported research
has found that nature-based solutions, implemented at the
local level, are vital for addressing inequality. Effective
action to restore nature helps create jobs and enhance income for
the poor and vulnerable, with estimations that over 20 million
jobs could be generated around the globe by increasing investment
in nature-based solutions.
This programme is part of the UK’s commitment to spend £11.6
billion on international climate finance, to tackle the urgent
impacts of climate change and support a just transition to
environmentally sustainable economies and societies.
The UK’s COP26 Presidency last year emphasised the critical role
of nature to achieve goals on both climate change and sustainable
development. In 2021, the UK committed
£3billion 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
