IFAD and the GEF announce three climate-resilience investments in rural people in Eritrea, Kiribati and Malawi

Rome, 22 December 2025. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the governments of Malawi, Eritrea, and Kiribati, announced three new investments in climate resilience to help rural people restore ecosystems, strengthen their adaptive capacity, protect biodiversity, and improve their livelihoods.

The GEF approved a combined package of over US$44.5 million in GEF financing and more than US$80 million co-financing -- of which US$48.5 million from IFAD -- during its recent 70^th Council Meeting. The investments will support innovative climate-resilient, ecosystem-based, and community-driven projects co-financed by IFAD and the governments of Malawi, Eritrea and Kiribati, and implemented by partner governments, in these three highly vulnerable countries to climate shocks.

“These three investments embody IFAD’s vision of a climate‑resilient future in which rural communities lead the transition to integrated blue‑green economies, restoring ecosystems while strengthening their own livelihoods. Investments in small farmers, coastal communities and island populations can simultaneously protect biodiversity, build resilience to climate change and open new, inclusive economic opportunities,” said Juan Carlos Mendoza Casadiegos, Director of IFAD’s Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division.

Investments

Eritrea. The Community-Based Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Restoration project in Eritrea integrates climate-smart, nutrition-sensitive, and fisheries-based livelihoods into a national adaptation program. It will restore and conserve key coastal and marine habitats, strengthen climate resilience by 20 per cent and restore 3,500 hectares of degraded mangroves. It adopts a new model for community-led coastal restoration, empowering 21,320 households to become frontline stewards of their marine and coastal ecosystems, for a total investment of around US$32 million.

©IFAD/Stephanie Simcox/Panos

Kiribati. The Enhancing & Sustaining Kiribati’s Resilient Future project supports vulnerable atoll communities on the frontline of climate change in an eight-year project by promoting a systems-based model that links climate-adaptive land use planning, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, water security, climate-smart agriculture, and sustainable energy in an innovative “blue-green” approach treating land and water sectors as interconnected. It will strengthen institutions and data systems, restore terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, promote nature-based and low-carbon solutions, and support inclusive, climate-resilient livelihoods. The total investment is nearly US$51 million.

Malawi. The Malawi Resilient Integrated Livestock and Aquaculture Project (RILAP) will combine livestock, aquaculture and fisheries in the country’s lakes, and sustainable land management in one coherent production and value-chain system. This integrated approach aims to restore more than 50,000 hectares of land; improve management of 59,000 hectares to benefit biodiversity and put another 59,000 hectares under sustainable land management in production systems. In addition to mitigating 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), the investment of around US$32 million expects to reach 30,000 people.

Media contact: Alberto Trillo Barca | a.trillobarca@ifad.org | +39 366 576 3706

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No.: IFAD/96/2025

IFAD is an international financial institution, and a United Nations specialized agency. Based in Rome – the United Nations food and agriculture hub – IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided more than US$25 billion in grants and low-interest loans to fund projects in developing countries.

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