Transformative Partnerships for People and the Planet

Partners:  Nespresso ,  TechnoServe ,  the Wildlife Conservation Society , Virunga Coffee SARL,  Asili   Landscapes: Coffee Growing Landscapes near Kahuzi-Biega National Park in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo

Problem: Kahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the few remaining habitats of the world’s 6,800 estimated remaining eastern lowland gorillas. But political unrest and violence, population growth, and the absence of sustainable economic opportunities in the area have put the national park and the wildlife it protects at risk from illegal logging, poaching, and mining.

Opportunity: The region is known for growing excellent shade-grown coffee, and sales in specialty coffee markets have increased in recent years. USAID partners with Olam and Nespresso, who require reliable sources of high-quality coffee to satisfy consumer demand for fair trade products. The environmentally sustainable production of coffee is central to this vision and also represents a new market opportunity – putting coffee from the Democratic Republic of Congo on the map.

Response: The Gorilla Coffee Alliance is helping local families to establish environmentally sustainable ways to earn income, improving access to essential health services, and working with community institutions to become advocates for conserving the national park. It will train farmers in regenerative agriculture, and help local entrepreneurs and farmers set up nurseries that provide high-quality coffee and shade-tree seedlings. It will also work with the management staff at washing stations where coffee beans are prepared for processing to access finance and technical assistance that will improve their capacity to process coffee at quality levels demanded by Nespresso and other specialty markets. Participating washing stations are expected to double their output by 2026.

Photo Credit: Jason Houston

Partners: Outspan PNG Ltd, DGT Global (formerly Cardno),  Lindt & Sprüngli ,  Femili PNG  Landscapes:  Morobe Province, close to the Bismarck Forest Corridor, Papua New Guinea

Problem: Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to unique biodiversity, human culture, and chocolate flavor, but due to poor infrastructure, much of this unique chocolate cannot reach the global market. In PNG, gender-based, tribal, and other related violence hinder rural communities from accessing vital social and economic services.

Opportunity: By partnering with the private sector, PNG Outspan Ltd will help Papua New Guinea chocolate reach the global market at an efficient price. This will support local livelihoods, especially in Morobe Province YUS Tree Kangaroo conservation area, the home to tree kangaroos as well as species found nowhere else. Empowering women and families in new cacao farming methods and financial literacy stabilizes the community and provides incentives for rural development and biodiversity conservation.

Response: USAID and Outspan Ltd, a subsidiary of Olam, have partnered to invest in training 500 women cocoa farmers on new nursery management techniques and offered tools for farming, and provided technical assistance in streamlining the logistics of the supply chain that brings the cocoa beans to the global market. In doing so, more of the profit generated by this product goes directly to farmers and their families, increasing their ability to invest in their health and children’s education and reducing their need to exploit other resources in the forest. [ Read more ]

Photo Credit: USAID/Papua New Guinea

Partners:  Starbucks , Asociación Civil Contigo Agrandando El Circulo,  ECOAN , Fundación Conservación Internacional Landscape: Alto Mayo, Peru

Problem: Decades of unsustainable agricultural practices have led to degradation and deforestation in the Amazon Basin. Climate change and poor soil management is negatively affecting coffee production and overall food security in the region. Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable and disproportionately affected by these factors.

Opportunity: Ensuring that families in the short term improve their incomes will help restore and conserve forests on their farms and in the broader landscape. Wider adoption of forest restoration and protection activities in Alto Mayo, Peru, and Huila, Colombia, will build the resilience of farming households in light of climate change but also affect the quantity and quality of the coffee produced. 

Response: The project is promoting agroforestry systems and increasing shade-tree densities in existing coffee and cacao plots and diversifying production through non-timber species such as black pepper and bananas, among others. Likewise, families are installing plantations and managing timber species in secondary forests as well as restoring degraded soils with organic fertilizers made from farm residues and composting. By 2025, 4,100 hectares in Alto Mayo will be protected, and 750 hectares of degraded land will be restored.

Photo Credit: Jason Houston

Partners:  Solimar International ,  Conservation Capital , Journey Plus,  Miles Partnership   Landscapes: Sundarbans, Bangladesh

Problem: Bangladesh is home to the world’s largest remaining mangrove forest—the Sundarbans. Continued poaching and trafficking, human-wildlife conflict, deforestation, oil spills, and unsustainable resource extraction threaten biodiversity in the Sundarbans and elsewhere.

Opportunity: Bangladesh's fast-growing economy and rising middle class present a unique opportunity to capitalize on the increased demand for ecotourism in the protected areas of Bangladesh. The overall vision behind the Bangladesh Ecotourism and Conservation Alliance is to capitalize on this demand and the Sundarbans Reserved Forest's natural, cultural, and historical resources to develop sustainable tourism that integrates local communities, maximizes conservation benefits, and generates income for communities and the private sector alike.

Response: The Bangladesh Ecotourism and Conservation Alliance is uniting private-sector tourism companies to strengthen ecotourism in the region and increase collaboration with various government agencies, NGOs, academia, and community conservation groups. In partnership with USAID and the Government of Bangladesh, the Alliance is developing a long-term Ecotourism Master Plan for the Sundarbans Reserved Forest to develop new policies and strategies that better integrate local communities into the tourism value chain. This work will improve economic benefits for communities and increase their support for biodiversity conservation. The Alliance is also conducting campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation among the neighboring communities of the protected areas, creating pride in the Sundarbans and its World Heritage status.

Photo Credit: Sirajul Hossain

Partners:  Mars ,  Institute for Development Impact  Landscapes: South and Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia 

Problem: Smallholder farmers produce around 95% of global cocoa supplies. A large majority of these farmers do not make a living income to provide for their families, let alone generate enough cash to reinvest in their farms and cacao trees.

Opportunity: Encouraging the systemic change that will help smallholder farmers thrive will in turn assure chocolate manufacturers like Mars Inc. of a consistent high-quality supply of the cacao they need to satisfy the world’s sweet tooth.

Response: Through the Advancing Cocoa Agroforestry towards Income, Value, and Environmental Sustainability (ACTIVE) program, USAID works with partners in Indonesia to achieve its commitment to combat climate change and strengthen economic growth while reducing inequality and poverty. ACTIVE promotes evidence-based sustainable cocoa agroforestry practices to address climate change mitigation and adaptation, increase climate change resilience, and improve smallholder farmer incomes while ensuring a high-quality cocoa supply. ACTIVE will help 9,000 farmers in South and Southeast Sulawesi Provinces adapt to climate change and sustainably manage their cocoa farms. This support will eliminate an estimated 650,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, and increase cocoa yields and farmer incomes by 15%.

Photo credit: Donald Bason

Partners:  Ocean Farmers ,  Indian Ocean Trepang ,  Blue Ventures ,  Wildlife Conservation Society ,  World Wildlife Fund ,  MIHARI Network ,  Madagascar National Parks ,  Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy of Madagascar   Landscapes: Makira and Masoala Parks and Antongil Bay (“MaMa Bay”; Northeast), Menabe and Atsimo-Andrefana - Morombe district (Southwest); Tolagnaro, Anosy (South), Madagascar 

Problem: Unsustainable fishing and aquaculture practices in Madagascar have contributed to a decline in marine species along its nearly 3,500 miles of coastline. Since the fishing sector is a leading source of income for local communities and the island nation, diminished fish stocks have increased financial pressure on the many people who rely on this sector.

Opportunity: Global demand for marine resources like sea cucumbers and seaweed continues to grow, so the sustainable farming and harvest of these high commercial value commodities can potentially reduce pressure on wild resources, improve marine habitats, and increase carbon sequestration, all while strengthening the economic resilience of local communities through livelihood diversification.

Response: In 2022, USAID launched a new public-private partnership called Nosy Manga (Blue Island) to promote sustainable sea cucumber and seaweed farming with Ocean Farmers and Indian Ocean Trepang, two local aquaculture companies. Under the project, seaweed and sea cucumber farmers are learning sustainable farming techniques, farm management, disease prevention, governance of marine protected areas, and other risk-coping strategies. These activities will ultimately provide new sources of income to complement traditional livelihoods such as fishing, without extracting or damaging natural resources.

Blog:  Celebrate an Unlikely Conservation Hero 

Photo Credit: Ocean Farmers

Partners:  Miarakap ,  Vatel ,  SSM Ilanga Nature ,  JiroVe ,  Sahanala , and others Landscapes: Madagascar

Problem: Small and medium enterprises and start-ups whose business models are fundamentally linked to biodiversity conservation in Madagascar require technical assistance and support services, as well as access to capital, to become sustainable businesses and to maximize their impacts. However, this access to capital is limited, especially for socially oriented enterprises, which are often considered high-risk by investors.  

Opportunity: Environmentally oriented startups and small and medium enterprises could contribute meaningfully to conserving Madagascar's rich biodiversity. Miarakap is a social impact investment fund founded in 2018, and is a pioneer of blended finance at the service of entrepreneurs in Madagascar. Miarakap designed the Mitsiry activity, which matches USAID funds with private sector investment capital at a 1:1.5 ratio, to invest in and grow conservation-oriented businesses throughout the country. 

Response: Mitsiry is implementing two approaches to increasing investment: a matching grants program that will support projects with sustainable social and environmental impacts carried out by small and medium enterprises, and a start-up program to encourage the emergence of new entrepreneurs who integrate social and environmental impacts into their business models. The matching grants program has enabled the expansion of businesses that work in and adjacent to biodiversity conservation in Madagascar, including training for ecotourism operators and staff and professionalization of beekeepers and honey production for better forest conservation. The start-up program has supported an initial cohort of entrepreneurs with technical assistance and small, milestone-based investments of capital in businesses such as insect production for animal feed and conversion of agricultural waste to charcoal briquettes.

Photo Credit: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)

Partners:  Sun Africa ,  KixiCredito ,  The Nature Conservancy ,  Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo para Povo - Angola ,  Development Workshop ,  Associação de Conservação e Desenvolvimento Integrado Rural , and  The Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission  Landscapes: Upper Okavango, Cuando Cubango Province, Angola

Problem: Still feeling the effects of decades of conflict in the recent past, communities in Angola’s Upper Okavango region face levels of poverty, which has contributed to unsustainable pressure on the region’s terrestrial and freshwater natural resources. Access to services and infrastructure is extremely limited in rural areas. Further, competing uses and demands for the landscape’s connected complex water, forest, and energy resources have the potential to harm biodiversity, climate, and local communities in the Okavango Delta.

Opportunity: Private sector actors seek to increase access to renewable energy, microfinance, and other innovations that improve well-being and avoid negative impacts on the climate or on the people and resources of the Upper Okavango.

Response: Through the USAID-funded ECCO project, The Nature Conservancy leads a consortium of partners including trusted local NGOs, transboundary institutions such as the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission, and private sector companies. The consortium promotes conservation-based livelihoods, strengthens water resource management and water, sanitation, and hygiene services, and ensures that biodiversity and human well-being goals feature lower-impact renewable energy and climate solutions and support women’s economic empowerment. The project will address the key threats to natural resources conservation and human prosperity for communities in southeastern Angola, with downstream benefits for Okavango Basin residents and ecosystems in Namibia and Botswana.

Photo credit: Roshni Lodhia/TNC

Partners:  P.T. Olam Indonesia ,  Rikolto ,  The Hershey Company  Landscapes: East Nusa Tenggara Province, South Sulawesi Province, and North Sumatra Province, Indonesia

Problem: Coffee is a wildly popular beverage enjoyed by over three-quarters of U.S. consumers, and it is a critical source of income for some 12.5 million farmers in developing countries and an important source of foreign exchange for these countries. But these coffee growers, many of whom are smallholders growing on less than five hectares of land, are at risk from shifting climate patterns.

Opportunity: When coffee and cacao farmers are able to reduce the risks of climate-related shocks to their crops, they are able to provide more consistent supplies to coffee and chocolate manufacturers like Olam Indonesia.

Response: The Landscape Approach to Sustainable and Climate Change Resilient Cocoa and Coffee Agroforestry (LASCARCOCO) leverages Olam’s global experience to improve cocoa and coffee smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity against climate change shocks so they can sustainably produce cocoa and coffee through the adoption of agroforestry practices and improve their livelihoods. Through LASCARCOCO, USAID will help 6,500 farmers to adapt to climate change and manage their cocoa and coffee farms with sustainable practices. These improved agroforestry practices will also reduce an estimated 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, and increase farmers’ cocoa yields by 30% and their incomes by 25%. The coffee activity, to be implemented in the East Nusa Tenggara Province, will target 1,000 Arabica coffee growers.

Photo Credit: Samantha Martin