SCALING CLIMATE RESILIENCE THROUGH NATIONAL PARTNERS
Using Nature-Based Solutions
Mission
Nature For Justice (N4J) is a new non-profit established to harness nature to address the social justice needs of populations around the world confronting the climate crisis. N4J acts as a bridge between climate-impacted populations and companies, impact investors, and donors to help vulnerable communities adapt to climate change and deliver resources to those in need. We build on the trust developed by local, community partners to improve land management practices, restore landscapes, and protect forests.
Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of our partners in order to create resilient communities that contribute to reducing emissions and a model of support that can be scaled-up and replicated.
Current Status
As a US-registered non-profit, we are currently engaging with existing and potential partners in 13 countries that span North America, Central and South America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. Our work includes a major focus on helping Black, Indigenous, and people of color adapt to climate change in the Southeastern United States and Canada. We have developed a cross section of strong working relationships with national-level NGO partners, FinTech companies, impact investors, and offset buyers.
To move our various initiatives forward, a staff of three work with an array of consultants and senior advisors. On governance, our four-person board will be expanding to reflect the organizations that we work with that are diverse, inclusive, and embrace justice as a core part of their mission.
The Challenge
The impacts of climate change are disrupting livelihoods, supply chains, food security, and the health and welfare of more than a billion people. It is projected to worsen over the next 10 years and ultimately spur the largest mass migrations the world has ever seen.
Harnessing Nature
We already know how to solve at least a third of the challenge of removing carbon from the atmosphere — by utilizing “nature-based solutions”(NBS). Healthy forests, farms, and fields can absorb massive amounts of greenhouse gasses, whereas unhealthy ones emit them.
Evidence from research done by scientist Bronson Griscom[1] and others shows that employing nature at the landscape level can sequester over a third of the carbon needed to keep global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius or below. Methods of using nature include improving conservation and land management practices; restoring landscapes through natural regeneration and/or tree planting; and protecting forests, mangroves, peat bogs, salt marshes and seagrass beds. These are viable NBS that we know how to implement.
[1] Natural Climate Solutions Could Speed Up Mitigation, With Risks. Additional Options Are Needed” Griscom et al, Earth’s Future 4/2020; “Natural Climate Solutions” Griscom et al, PNAS, 10/17
Our Strategy
N4J is partnering with the private sector, the public sector, and national and subnational non-profit organizations and companies to create self-sustaining systems that mitigate and adapt to climate change. We seek to:
- Partner with organizations (NGOs, communities of faith, cooperatives, businesses) that have built a network of trusting relationships (i.e., Trust Networks) with communities and their leadership.
- Evaluate with local partners to what extent NBS are already being used (e.g., Traditional Ecological Knowledge) and whether further NBS investment can create resilience at the community and landscape level by reversing land degradation and improving production.
- Monetize the NBS, when possible, for sale to a range of impact investors and de-risk compa-ny supply chains to benefit our partners and the communities they support.
- Scale the Trust Networks across multiple countries and regions through peer-to-peer con-nections and learning and access in-country/regional expertise to build local capacity and support.
A Different Approach
- To build upon the network of trust that our local partners have developed over years with local communities. These Trust Networks are not built overnight, and while funding may come and go, our perspective, like our local partners, is to commit to the long-term.
- To start with communities where they are, building upon their knowledge and experience, in a participatory planning process to agree on joint strategies and collaborative agreements.
Select Partners
| Implementing | Country Level | Specialists |
|---|---|---|
| Planet Women (Gender focus) | Nature Conservation Research Center (Ghana) | Global Safety Net (Science) |
| RESOLVE (Facilitation) | Los Aliados (Ecuador) | Cultivo (Investment) |
