While technological innovation is key to countering the climate crisis, nature plays an equally important, yet often overlooked, role. We should celebrate U.S. leadership in harnessing the power of nature here at home and in developing countries worldwide. We can be proud of our successes. However, let’s also reaffirm our commitment to international climate assistance funding, including support for critical nature-based solutions.
What are Nature-Based Solutions?
Nature-based solutions involve conserving, restoring, or better managing ecosystems to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Sustainable agriculture, restoring coastal wetlands, and forest management that allows regrowth are all examples of nature-based solutions. In addition to their benefits for the climate, these practices tackle societal challenges, including food and water security, social and economic development, and disaster mitigation.
At the heart of nature-based solutions is reciprocity between humans and nature. Much of the climate crisis stems from extractive practices that have depleted resources with little to no respect for the natural world. Transforming the human-nature relationship to embody harmony, balance, and respect is critical as every corner of the world faces environmental change.
Nature-Based Solutions in Action
To learn more about nature-based solutions in action, FCNL recently spoke with Jacob Mwanduka, a long-time environmental advocate and director of Watersheds Ecosystem Conservation (WEC) in Kitui County, Kenya.
Kitui County is increasingly experiencing extreme heat and prolonged droughts exacerbated by climate change. Decreased water access in some areas has increased tension between pastoralist communities who need water for their animals and farmers who need water for their crops, raising the threats of community conflict.
To help confront this environmental instability, Jacob leads a project in Kitui County and surrounding areas to distribute and plant seeds of an indigenous, drought-tolerant tree species called Mukau. These trees are being used to restore previously depleted forests around the country, helping counteract desertification. He gives planting demonstrations to farmers, schools, and churches, explaining the trees’ combined economic and environmental value. In our conversation, Jacob stressed the importance of this education: “[The people in the community] need to be shown how things are done because they are used to doing things the same way… they don’t believe they have the potential to change.” The work that Jacob, and countless others are doing worldwide, couples working with nature to address climate change with addressing other injustices, such as poverty and the need for economic development.
U.S. Government Support is Critical
The work of countless local actors like Jacob is helping mitigate the impacts of climate change. However, the investments needed to support this work are often out of reach for many developing countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) can help fill this critical gap.
USAID recently released a 2023 Review of their development work highlighting the agency’s focus on conserving and restoring forests to improve livelihoods and mitigate climate change. In 2023 alone, for example, USAID invested $151 million worldwide in sustainable landscape management, which supported partners to prevent 295 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere and conserve 82 million hectares of tropical rainforests.
Congress should continue to support this work by fully funding international climate assistance. Doing so will help communities, such as those in Kitui County, implement nature-based solutions to confront climate change, build resilience to changes already underway, and support community-wide economic development.
