Our Expertise and Services: Environment and Climate Change
Climate change is threatening people’s livelihoods. Poor people in developing countries are the worst affected. Helvetas supports people to adapt to climate change, reduce the risk of disasters, and sustainably manage forests, water and other natural resources.
Why environment and climate change matter
Climate change disproportionately affects developing countries and in particular poor and disadvantaged people. It threatens important development progress achieved over the past decades. People living in our partner countries are facing a rise in the number and scale of disasters.
Secured access to land, water and other natural resources is critical for the livelihoods of disadvantaged people. Sustainable management of natural resources ensures the conservation of biodiversity and the continuous provision of essential ecosystem services.
What we do
Through our work on climate change, disaster risk and natural resource management, Helvetas contributes to reducing risks for people and increasing the resilience of their livelihoods.
We support the development and implementation of measures that allow our primary stakeholders and partners in the field to adapt to the expected effects of climate change. We promote measures to mitigate climate change such as avoiding or reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or increasing carbon storage in carbon sinks.
In the field of disaster management, we support measures to prevent disasters, reduce the vulnerabilities of communities to natural and other hazards and increase their preparedness for disaster events. Helvetas also provides humanitarian response in its partner countries in collaboration with partner organizations.
On natural resource management, we support local communities and people in securing their rights to natural resources such as forests, pastures or fisheries and sustainably managing these resources with the aim to improve their livelihood while conserving ecosystems and their biodiversity.
Helvetas links the local level – such as questions around the governance of natural resources – with the policy dialogue at the national level and in international fora.
What we offer
We provide advisory services to clients in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America:
- Broad-based expertise and advice on climate change, disaster risk management, humanitarian response and natural resource management.
- Ability to work across scales and combine science, policy and practice. Facilitation of multi-stakeholder partnerships.
- Long-standing experience in mainstreaming climate change and disaster risk management in sectoral plans and policies and integrating climate change in development plans.
- Development of context-specific analytical tools and methods and delivery of tailor-made trainings.
- Bridging field activities with policy dialogue and doing complementary work at local, national, regional and international level.
- Advocacy on climate and development policies, land and resources rights, biodiversity conservation and people-centered disaster risk management.
- Assisting clients in designing programs and projects including project formulation, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation.
Contact our team
Our multilingual advisory team offers wide-ranging thematic expertise and process competences. Building on the experience of Helvetas and its staff worldwide, we dispose of know-how and skills gained from over 60 years of field experience in more than 30 countries.
Contact our environment & climate change experts
Selected projects
Helvetas develops and guides projects. To be sustainable, they must be locally embedded. We support our partners in effectively organizing projects and processes and assist local authorities to better assume their responsibilities.
Our quarterly newsletter “Highlights”
Further information
Download and read our publications on different environment and climate change related topics.
Publications
-
Project Nemaso: Standing up to Climate ChangePDF (2.21 MB)
-
Guideline - Assessing Climate Risks and Vulnerabilities in Market SystemsPDF (0.98 MB)
-
Climate Change and AgriculturePDF (0.57 MB)
-
Study on Hydro-Meteorological Hazards in PakistanPDF (1.73 MB)
-
Enhancing climate resilience in semi-arid regions in Northern EthiopiaPDF (1.05 MB)
-
Leaflet 1: Reducing Climate Impacts and advoiding new Risks with intensive Hillside FarmingPDF (0.37 MB)
-
Leaflet 2: Roof Water Harvesting SystemPDF (0.32 MB)
-
Leaflet 3: Ring-Basin infiltration Pits in Smallholder's Backyards to adapt to moisture StressPDF (0.8 MB)
-
Leaflet 4: Perma-Garden in Smallholder's Backyards to cope and adapt to Climate Shocks at the Household LevelPDF (0.42 MB)
-
Leaflet 5: Promotion of Economic Diversification and improved farming Practices to adapt to Climate Variability and extreme Weather EventsPDF (0.43 MB)
-
Natural Resources and ConflictPDF (0.3 MB)
-
Making Good Local Governance GrowPDF (5.14 MB)
-
Forests, landscapes and governance: multiple actors, multiple rolesPDF (3.76 MB)
-
Community forestry contributes to poverty reductionPDF (4 MB)
-
Community forestry strengthens democracyPDF (3.97 MB)
