General

There is amazing biodiversity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This Central African country has extensive woodland, with high importance for food security of local communities. There are, however, armed conflicts over resources in the country, particularly in East Congo. The habitats of wildlife including gorillas, hippopotamuses and elephants have come under pressure due to these conflicts and illegal poaching. East Congo is rich in expensive natural resources, such as hardwood and firewood. The soil is also rich in mineral resources such as copper, coltan and oil. Armed groups regularly use violence to gain control over these natural resources. The Green Livelihoods Alliance has seven partner organisations in Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega, nature reserves that UNESCO recognises as natural World Heritage Sites. Millions of people live in extreme poverty around the Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega National Park. They depend on natural resources for their livelihood. The programme aims to improve the relationship between both parties, thus working towards a win-win situation. The Green Livelihoods Alliance furthermore strengthens local and indigenous communities that stand up against illegal poaching and fishing. We help them to prevent land expropriation and to enforce nationally and internationally recognised rights. In addition, we encourage them to join forces with park rangers to protect their areas and to show park rangers how they can focus on ways of procuring forest products and fishing in lakes with respect for the environment.

Objectives

The DRC programme of the Green Livelihoods Alliance focuses on the restoration, protection and sustainable management of the ecosystems in the Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega landscapes. It’s about natural resource management in a sustainable, concerted and inclusive manner, which guarantees the livelihoods of local communities and indigenous peoples and the stability of protected areas. The programme adopts three envisaged pathways of change: Restoring social peace and stability in the East landscape: local communities and indigenous populations in the Virunga and Kahuzi Biega landscapes are acting freely, responsibly and are reconciled. Activities to achieve this include: education of youth, women and land chiefs in sustainable management of natural resources, meetings with the traditional leaders and bringing different stakeholders in the landscape together. Re-establishing social and environmental justice: establishment of an environmental juridical clinic providing legal support and strengthened advocacy for the restoration of state authority in the Virunga landscape, so that stakeholders adopt best practices in their daily lives, livelihoods are improved and the living conditions of the local population and indigenous populations have increased. Assuring the sustainable use of natural resources and restoring ecosystems: benefits of protected areas should contribute to the sustainable development of local populations, stakeholders are involved in decisions making process and new alternatives are developed.

General

The problems confronting urban deltas are complex and require an all-embracing approach. The Dutch Government and the delta city of Beira agreed to enter into a medium term partnership to enhance the city’s resilience to flooding and assist it to adapt to climate change. In a participatory process, a plan was developed which was adopted by the City council in 2014, the Beira Masterplan. Part of the plan was a list of priority projects among which the development of the Maraza New Town Area. Maraza is an undeveloped swamp area of 350 ha inside the city of Beira. The Maraza pilot project envisages to prove that through organized extension of residential areas, suitable land can be made available to end users for affordable prices in areas which are currently inhabitable due to regular flooding. The Municipality of Beira will establish a mechanism to or-ganize this: the Land Development Company (LDC)- an au-tonomous entity that will raise, level and drain terrains to reach economies of scale. In the statutes of the LDCs it is stipulated that all revenues are returning to the LDC and that part of the area will be used for social housing. With the pro-posed EKN contribution and an equivalent contribution of the municipality of Beira a pilot will be carried out to create a ‘ fly wheel effect’ for the business case. An area of 3 hec-tares will be landfilled, 125 plots delineated and granted with secured land rights as well as basic infrastructure (ac-cess roads, utilities, drainage system). The British social investor REALL will be the launching cus-tomer. After scaling up the number of houses, it will be-come possible to build houses in the range of USD 10.000 per unit, giving the lower income groups an alternative to the present situation of forced habitation in flood prone are-as.

General

Over 2 million people in São Paulo live in unsafe and insecure housing in São Paulo. Many of these live in informal settlements or 'favelas' in overcrowded, poorly built dwellings, often located on marginal land, which lack basic infrastructure such as sanitation, street paving, electricity and are located far from jobs, health and education services, where they are risk from eviction, fires, vector-borne disease outbreaks, and increasingly due to climate change, flash-flooding and landslides. This project will improve the living conditions in 32 favelas (area of precarious and insecure housing), home to 14,000 families, in eastern São Paulo (Vila Prudente, Sapopemba, São Mateus, Jardim Iguatemi); by reducing vulnerability to social and environmental risks and engaging leaders in initiatives to regenerate the local environment. This will take place by strengthening the technical and organisational capacity of local grassroots leaders and neighbourhood organisations to: understand and monitor urban housing and environmental policies and budgets, dialogue with local authorities to enable the poorest access to land tenure formalisation, reduce environmental risks, decent housing, sanitation and essential urban services, work effectively with each other and other organisations for common goals, and shape policy-making to encompass local sustainable solutions to urban environmental problems. This will take place through trainings and capacity building of local neighbourhood groups, brokering and accompaniment of dialogue with local authorities, technical support to develop community environmental initiatives and networking with other groups with similar aims.