Global Climate Change Brochure:
USAID's Global Climate Change Program
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| Fifty compressed natural gas buses bought under USAID's Cairo Air Improvement Project (CAIP)
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrate environmental and economic benefits. |
Addressing the causes and effects of climate
change has been a key focus of USAID’s
development assistance for over a decade.
USAID has funded environmental programs that
have reduced greenhouse gas emissions while
promoting energy efficiency, forest protection,
biodiversity conservation, and other development
goals. This “multiple benefits" approach to climate
change helps developing and transition countries
achieve economic development without sacrificing
environmental protection.To help countries address
domestic and international climate change priorities,
USAID’s Global Climate Change Program is active in
more than 40 countries and, since 2001, has dedicated
over a billion U.S. dollars to promote:
USAID places particular emphasis on partnerships
with the private sector and on working with local and
national authorities, communities, and nongovernmental
organizations to create alliances that build on the
relative strengths of each. Bringing together a diverse
range of stakeholders helps avoid unnecessary duplication
and lays the foundation for a sustained, integrated
approach.Through training, tools, and other means of
capacity building, USAID helps developing and transition
countries address climate-related concerns as a
part of their development goals.
Clean Energy Technology
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| A local official in the Durban area of South Africa found low cost solar water heating
simple enough that he installed it on his own. |
New technologies and practices offer the prospect for
continued economic growth with reduced greenhouse
gas emissions. Recognizing that increased productivity
and efficiency are critical to economic growth, USAID
supports the commercialization, dissemination, and
widespread adoption of environmentally sound
technologies. Attracting private investment is essential to
popularizing such technologies. Recognizing that energy
is one of the major expenditures for poor families living
in urban townships, USAID promotes the use of low-cost
solar water heating units in South Africa, which
reduce household energy consumption and costs while
providing hot water to households that could not
otherwise afford it. USAID/India’s Greenhouse Gas
Pollution Prevention Project reduces emissions
through efficient power generation and increased
use of clean energy technology, including electric
cars, clean coal, and energy generation with sugar
cane waste (bagasse).
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| Children’s forest fire prevention campaign – Protect the
Forest – in the Khabarovski region, Russia. |
Sustainable Land Use and Forestry
Promoting biodiversity conservation, improved
forest management, and sustainable agriculture,
USAID programs in more than 25 countries help
mitigate climate change by absorbing and storing
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They also
help reduce the vulnerability of ecosystems to
climate change. Reduced-impact logging of
forests minimizes loss of vegetative cover, for
instance, which helps stabilize the soil and
prevent it from eroding away during rain and
windstorms. Reduced tillage and contour planting
by farmers increases soil organic carbon and
therefore enhances soil fertility, which helps
increase food security in developing countries.
To better understand the carbon effects of
such land management strategies, scientists,
policymakers, and landowners in the international
community need improved methods for
monitoring carbon sequestration in soil-plant
ecosystems. Thus, USAID is not only promoting
activities that preserve carbon stocks but is also
helping to develop methodologies for measuring
changes in carbon stocks in USAID’s land use
and forestry projects in areas such as the
Congo Basin.
Adaptation to Climate Change
USAID supports activities to help developing
countries lessen their vulnerability and adapt to
climate variability and change.These activities are
intended to build more resilience into economic
sectors that may be affected by climatic stresses,
including agriculture, water, and key livelihood
sectors in coastal areas. In Indonesia, USAID’s Coastal
Resources Management Project (CRMP) helps
coastal communities to sustainably manage fisheries,
reefs, and other coastal resources. Participating
villages and communities develop long-term plans
to protect resources, such as ensuring that their
coastline is protected from floods and storm
damage by healthy stands of mangroves.
Climate Science for Decision-Making
USAID is involved in U.S. and international climate
change research to ensure that science addresses
information needed for global development challenges
and that scientific findings are used to guide
development planning. Informed policy decisions
are essential to sustainable natural resource
management and economic development, key
priorities of USAID. For example, USAID supports
long-term research partnerships between U.S.
universities, developing country research institutions,
U.S. agribusiness, and private voluntary
organizations through Collaborative Research
Support Programs (CRSPs). CRSPs research issues
of agricultural productivity and sustainability, food
quality, and natural resource management that
benefit both developing countries and the U.S.
Download the
Global Climate Change Brochure, October 2006 (PDF 253K)
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