On the occasion of the Desertification COP taking place from December 2 to 13, let’s revisit the FFEM’s efforts to combat this threat to ecosystems and communities in arid regions. The French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) mobilizes innovative solutions through collaborative projects to preserve soils, support populations, and restore ecosystems.

First reservoir of terrestrial biodiversity, forests are, along with land, a formidable lever for climate regulation. Deforestation from agriculture causes nearly a quarter of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and an accelerated loss of biodiversity. The FFEM addresses together the forest and agricultural territories, intimately linked. For 30 years, the FFEM has supported innovative solutions with 105 projects financed on forests and agricultural land and an amount of €144 million committed.

The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, celebrated annually on 9 August, provides an important opportunity to highlight the challenges facing these communities all over the world. With an estimated population of between 370 and 500 million, indigenous peoples make up over half of the world’s cultural diversity and play a crucial role in ecosystem preservation, particularly in the Amazon region.

Re-financed to the tune of €132 million for 2023-2026, the FFEM has a new strategy and is setting out its priority directions.
This new FFEM strategy is the result of close consultation with its member institutions, its own Scientific and Technical Committee and secretariat, while also reflecting discussions with stakeholders from civil society and research communities. It presents the FFEM, its strategic objectives and its new priority themes, and summarises how to submit a project to the FFEM.

The Sahel Wood Energy project, supported by the Agence française de Développement (AFD) and the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) is committed to preserving the Sahel’s forests through better management. It uses two observation satellites to do this.

The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification starts this Monday 9 May in Abidjan, one week after publication of the latest UNCCD report. According to the report, 40% of land is now degraded with one in two people being affected by the phenomenon. Solutions do exist however, and the agenda of this COP focuses heavily on adapting to droughts and the transition toward sustainable agriculture. Patrice Berger, President and co-founder of the NGO CARI (Centre d’actions et de réalisations internationales - Centre for International Actions and Achievements) emphasises the importance of this 15th desertification COP and the steps he is taking to propel agroecology to the top of the negotiation agenda, including through his presentation of the outcomes from the AVACLIM project.

The XV World Forestry Congress opens on 2 May in Seoul, bringing together the leading players in the forestry sector to assess the current state of forests and their future. With the theme of “Building a Green, Healthy and Resilient Future with Forests”, this edition includes a full week of themed discussions, including sessions addressing “Managing and communicating forest information, data and knowledge”, where the FFEM will be speaking.

The FFEM-supported “Cocoa of Excellence” project in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador was featured on the Spanish language programme “Escala en París” on Radio France Internationale (RFI).

On 8 August 2021, the Government of the Republic of Congo, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB), a subsidiary of OLAM International, signed a trilateral partnership agreement to maintain biodiversity protection efforts around the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, the Congolese part of the Sangha Trinational, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The “Sustainable cocoa industry” agroforestry project supported by the FFEM and notably implemented by the Kaoka company is presented in the latest issue of the Proparco review “Private Sector and Development” featuring biodiversity preservation by the private sector.