Sustainable Landscapes

Description

Sustainable landscapes programs leverage investments in forestry, agriculture, and land usage to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while also increasing productivity and addressing rural poverty.

Use of Funds

Programs aim to capture carbon by conserving, managing, and restoring forests and other lands; building local resilience; and producing economic opportunities. In some cases, funds enable the implementation of sustainable agricultural models to boost productivity.

Justification

• Forests absorb 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) each year, 1.5 times the amount of carbon the U.S. produces annually. However, recent fires in the Amazon, Algeria, and Lebanon highlight the vulnerability of forests and other natural carbon sinks.
• Tropical rainforests sequester more carbon from the atmosphere than temperate and boreal forests. However, they are also the most affected by uncontrolled agricultural expansion. Out of the world’s three largest tropical rainforests, only one—the Congo River Basin—still remains a strong carbon sink.
• Because the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use sector accounts for about 25% of global GHG emissions, protecting existing forests from uncontrolled agricultural expansion is also critical for the mitigation of climate change.
• Since 2016, over $500 million of private investment has been mobilized by the U.S. Agency for International Development toward sustainable land use activities.