Wetlands and Biodiversity is the theme for World Wetlands Day 2020. Wetlands are rich with biodiversity and are a habitat for a dense variety of plant and animal species. Latest estimates show a global decline of biodiversity, while wetlands are disappearing three times faster than forests. This year's theme is a unique opportunity to highlight wetland biodiversity, its status, why it matters, and promote actions to reverse its loss.
The Protect Wildlife activity supports initiatives to align conservation policy with on-the-ground wildlife management actions and enforcement. The activity works in target landscapes to reduce threats to biodiversity, reduce poaching and use of illegally harvested wildlife and wildlife products, and improve ecosystem goods and services for human well-being.
Natural ecosystems capture, store and purify water, allowing biodiversity programming to complement and protect water and sanitation investments. Similarly, by improving waste water treatment and increasing water use efficiency, water and sanitation programming reduces the pollution of aquatic ecosystems and lessens the amount of water taken from rivers or lakes.
Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is an increasingly popular strategy for addressing the linked challenges of climate change and poverty in poor countries, where dependence on natural resources for lives and livelihoods is high. But EbA is neither widely nor consistently implemented. It is not sufficiently mainstreamed into national and international policy processes and receives a small proportion of adaptation finance. This is in part due to a weak or poorly consolidated evidence base on EbA effectiveness.
Sustainable and Thriving Environments for West Africa Regional Development (STEWARD III) is a forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods project implemented by the U.S. Forest Service’s International Program (USFS-IP). It works in transboundary priority zones in the Upper Guinean Forest ecosystem, occurring in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire. It is the third iteration of the STEWARD program.
Southern Africa has significant biodiversity and natural resources, as well as a robust legal framework for natural resource management across borders. However, most countries in the region are water scarce or water stressed. National policies lack harmonization across countries and between sectors, and poor and vulnerable populations lack enough benefits and incentives for sustainable resource management.
Project focused on creating sustainable synergies and partnerships between 3 sectors: the academic institutions that produce the climate, ecosystem and economic information that is used to successfully respond to climate change, the regional and local governments that mobilize public investment for climate change adaptation and mountain communities who manage natural resources and water systems, putting local actions into place that reduce climate change risks.
The USAID Philippine Sanitation Alliance (PSA) was a four-year program (October 1, 2007–September 30 2011) that worked with public and private sector partners to reduce public health risks, protect biodiversity and other natural resources by developing and implementing stakeholder-driven sanitation initiatives.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and USAID partnered in 2012 and implemented the Biodiversity and Watersheds Improved for Stronger Economy and Ecosystems Resilience (B+WISER) program to support the Government of the Philippines in implementing environmental policies and conducting programs to prevent forest and watershed disturbances and biodiversity loss. Over a six-year implementation period (2013-2018), B+WISER focused on managing the natural resources as well as reducing environmental disaster risks in the country.
The USAID Water Office created this video to help celebrate Earth Day 2019.
Learn more: https://www.earthday.org
