In March 2017, Timor-Leste enacted its national tourism policy, which calls for sustainable environmental development while increasing tourist visits and improving local and national economic opportunities. Through USAID’s Tourism for All Project (“USAID nia Projetu Turizmu Ba Ema Hotu”), Timor-Leste is realizing its goal of becoming a tourist destination that brings 200,000 foreign tourists annually…
Sharon Van Pelt is the former lead for Chemonics’ Democracy and Governance Practice.
Brian App is an international natural resource management specialist with over 20 years of experience working in the climate and environmental sectors. Brian currently serves as a Senior Climate Services Director in Chemonics’ Climate Group where he helps identify and better understand climate risks and opportunities to improve climate integration into programs and proposals across…
Maria Olanda Bata is an environment and natural resources, climate change, disaster risk reduction and food security specialist with more than 18 years of experience in the development sector. She has worked with governmental, academic, and international organizations from Mozambique, southern Africa, and the United States. Maria currently serves as the chief of party for…
The Limpopo River Basin supports large urban populations and the industrial heart of southern Africa. Social and commercial demands for already over-allocated water resources, however, make it difficult for the countries surrounding the basin to manage the shared water supply. Climate change has made the water supply increasingly variable, worsening the situation. The USAID Resilience…
SA-LED supports the design and implementation of municipal low-emissions development (LED) projects. What does a successful project life cycle look like and what obstacles do municipalities face during implementation? During the project life cycle, we look at two main dividends: greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and development impact. That’s what separates SA-LED’s work from other approaches…
More people live in cities now than at any point in history. As identified in Sustainable Development Goal 11 and highlighted in the New Urban Agenda formulated out of the Habitat III Conference last year, our challenge is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. Goal 11 and the New Urban…
USAID’s Maldives Global Climate Change (GCC) project worked to raise the public’s awareness about climate change, provide ways to adapt to its effects, and build the capacity and sustainability of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MEE), residents, the Island Council of Lhaviyani (Lh.) Hinnavaru, and the national utility company, FENAKA Corporation Limited.
At the foundation of every city are the physical systems that deliver water and power, dispose of solid waste and sewage, transport people and commodities, and transmit communications. Delivery of these basic infrastructure services to exponentially growing populations is a massive technological, financial, and governance challenge in cities of the developing world. However, the lack…
Before COP 21 kicked off in Paris, heads of state from 20 countries who make up the Climate Vulnerable Forum adopted the Manila-Paris Declaration, which outlined concerns, priorities and plans for addressing climate change. The declaration enumerated how the threats we see in the news everyday — rising sea levels, cyclones, drought, and others —…
With assistance from USAID’s Coastal City Adaptation Project (CCAP), two Mozambican cities are committing to taking proactive steps to adapt to climate change and pre- vent devastating ecological effects. CCAP is targeting Pemba and Quelimane to shift from a reactive to an adaptive approach. In Quelimane, municipal government leaders and the community work side by side to…
We are officially in the “urban century,” where more people in our world live in cities than in rural areas. Fittingly, for the first time, the United Nations (UN) has proposed an urban-specific Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that focuses on cities and human settlements, Goal 11. The journey to establishing Goal 11 has been long,…