The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has increased its financial contribution to CIFOR supporting global and regional comparative research across programs, geographical regions, CGIAR Consortium Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CRP 6) components, as well as more nationally-based work.

At the global level, USAID’s support will build on previous work on conservation and sustainable use of tropical forest biodiversity to develop approaches and tools to address wildlife conservation and management concerns in production forests and multiple land-use mosaics, as well as, identify emerging opportunities and best practices for restoration of forest ecosystems and their multiple goods and services, including genetic, ecological and silvicultural approaches. USAID funding will also allow CIFOR to expand successful research on carbon-rich tropical wetland ecosystems in Indonesia under the previous USAID-funded Tropical Wetlands Initiative for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (TWINCAM) to regional and global levels by scaling up activities to Vietnam, Latin America (Peruvian Amazon, the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) and Africa (broad longitudinal gradients in both East- and West African mangroves) for greater scope, reach and impact under a new Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP).

At the regional level, CIFOR has established a new strategic partnership with USAID’s Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) whose mandate is to develop and support a broad portfolio of regional and transnational programs, and provide technical leadership, services and support to USAID bilateral missions in the region. The new partnership will generate new research on the economic choices and trade-offs of REDD+ in Asia and promote knowledge sharing of results region-wide. Through this strategic collaboration, CIFOR expects to leverage stronger partnerships and additional sources of funding from USAID bilateral missions to continue strategic research in the region. At the national level, CIFOR secured support from USAID’s bilateral mission in Zambia for developing models for MRV for REDD+ in the Miombo socio ecological systems. This work will feed into CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD (GCS-REDD), support sentinel landscapes sites in Zambia and help us build up capacities and skills in-country.

CIFOR looks forward to the success of our partnerships with USAID, and to expanding these collaborations in the future.