Working Collaboratively for Conservation and Livelihoods after Crises

Many poor and vulnerable people in developing countries depend directly on natural resources and healthy ecosystems, and this dependence can be increased during and after crises. Healthy ecosystems also increase resilience to natural disaster.

The biodiversity that sustains ecosystems is threatened by natural disasters and human conflict both directly and immediately afterwards when humanitarian response often fails to take into account environmental sustainability. In such situations there can be a role for conservationists working with partners outside of the conservation sector, to ensure that pressing humanitarian needs can be met in an environmentally sustainable manner.

With support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) , Fauna & Flora International has documented experiences of working in partnership in conflict and disaster affected situations, focusing in particular on five sites: the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia, Sapo National Park in Liberia, Aceh Province in Indonesia, the Golden Stream Watershed in Belize and the Nimba Mountains in Guinea. Please refer to the Reports & Documents page for further information.

Fauna & Flora International is also at the forefront of the development of an innovative mechanism – the Rapid Response Facility – that offers support quickly to World Heritage Sites in the wake of natural disasters or conflicts.