Building Climate Resilient and Adaptive Ecosystems in Rural Eswatini

The project aims to support 70,500 direct beneficiaries in rural Eswatini, particularly in the Lubombo and Shiselweni regions, to adapt to increasing droughts and floods. It proposes a three-component approach: scaling up climate-resilient land use (such as conservation agriculture and rainwater harvesting), strengthening agricultural value chains to attract private investment, and improving the enabling environment through better land access and early warning systems. The initiative seeks USD 30 million from the Green Climate Fund, with USD 25 million in co-financing from the Eswatini Ministry of Agriculture.

• Rural Eswatini is highly vulnerable to climate change, with temperatures increasing by 1 to 1.5 °C between 1901-2009 and a trend of more frequent droughts and floods. The 2016 drought was the most severe in over 35 years, and projections under the RCP 8.5 scenario suggest maize productivity will decrease by 4.19% and managed grass productivity by 17.84% by 2050.
• Agricultural productivity in rural areas has declined by more than 30% since 2014 due to drought-induced soil fertility loss. Approximately 20% of the rural population faces acute food insecurity, and a July 2020 assessment estimated that 366,261 people (32.7% of the population) were at risk of food insecurity for the October 2020 to March 2021 period.
• Smallholder farmers face significant barriers to adopting resilient practices, including institutional gaps in early warning systems, social challenges such as a 30% HIV/AIDS prevalence, technological limitations in irrigation and mechanization, and a lack of accessible financial options.
• The project's first component focuses on scaling up resilient land use through training in conservation agriculture (specifically the Pfumvudza concept), the distribution of resilient local seed varieties, and the construction of earth dams under 5m for rainwater harvesting.
• The second component aims to strengthen agricultural value chains by organizing farmers into business entities, linking them to private sector actors, and developing climate-proof infrastructure such as agro-processing and storage facilities.
• The third component focuses on the enabling environment, including the development of community-level Local Adaptation Plans (LAPs), strengthening land access rights, and improving the Eswatini Meteorological Service's early warning systems.
• The project targets 70,500 direct beneficiaries, including 35,500 women, and expects to increase the resilience of approximately 312,531 people in total.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2021). Building Climate Resilient and Adaptive Ecosystems in Rural Eswatini. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/25840-building-climate-resilient-and-adaptive-ecosystems-rural-eswatini.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Building Climate Resilient and Adaptive Ecosystems in Rural Eswatini. 2021. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/25840-building-climate-resilient-and-adaptive-ecosystems-rural-eswatini.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Building Climate Resilient and Adaptive Ecosystems in Rural Eswatini |date=12 February 2021 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/25840-building-climate-resilient-and-adaptive-ecosystems-rural-eswatini.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2021building, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Building Climate Resilient and Adaptive Ecosystems in Rural Eswatini}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2021}, month = feb, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/25840-building-climate-resilient-and-adaptive-ecosystems-rural-eswatini.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }