As our planet continues to face unprecedented climate disasters, it is more important than ever for philanthropic funders to turn their attention to Nature-based Solutions (NbS) with an Equity-Centered approach. Coined by the World Bank in 2008, the NbS movement aims to support projects that take a whole-systems approach to environmental conservation. Jonas Philanthropies, which outlines their commitment to Nature-based Solutions from an equity lens in this whitepaper, is pleased to share thirteen recipients of funding towards community-led, frontline climate solutions. The billions of dollars that are and will continue to flow into this space must take an equity-centered approach, or we risk perpetuating root causes of the climate crisis, instead of solving it.

Rather than a reductionist approach to ecosystem conservation, each of these projects aligns with several impact areas identified as underfunded and underprioritized within the larger sector of NbS. Furthermore, focusing on these impact areas yield more holistic, integrative win-win solutions to the challenges of our times:

Conservation hydrology (also known as Watershed Restoration; Drought Proofing) to promote tree-growing, reforestation, landscape rehydration, and ecosystem restoration.
Meeting Human Material Needs for food, fiber, medicine, health services, ecosystem services, building materials through Nature-based Solutions.
Human Health Nexus to leverage ecosystem restoration to promote improved nutrition, access to medicine, improved sanitation and access to clean air and water, reduction in risk of zoonotic disease, and a multiplicity of other health outcomes that can be accrued through a focus on ecosystem health.
Rewilding to promote large-scale efforts to restore biodiversity and ecosystem health by engaging human communities to steward core wild/wilderness areas, provide connectivity between such areas, and protect or reintroduce apex predators and highly interactive species (keystone species).
Leveraging Additional Capital (e.g., federal dollars, multilateral funding, impact investment) to expand and sustain the power of collaborative grantmaking to improve NbS outcomes.
Social Enterprise Development to support self-sustaining, community enterprise, leveraging NbS, for durable impact over time independent of continued philanthropy.

Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute, Marechal Thaumaturgo, Acre, Brazil

The Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute is an Indigenous-led Institution that integrates traditional knowledge with modern techniques as a response to current planetary challenges. Led by Benki Pakayo, a leader of an Asháninka indigenous community in the Brazilian state of Acre, the Institute implements several programs that aim to meet human material needs while practicing land conservation.

The Institute aims to reestablish an eco-market to exchange food for recyclable materials collected by the local poor, and is currently training Agro-Forest Agents who defend indigenous land from deforestation, protecting forests and lifeways. In addition, the project is leveraging additional capital from Full Circle, Boa Foundation, Equator Prize and Rainforest Foundation (US).

This project was sourced for Jonas Philanthropies via the Amazon Investor Coalition.

Association of Waorani Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon, Ecuador

Developed in response to the uncontrolled poaching of wildlife in the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, Asociación de Mujeres Waorani de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana (AMWAE, or in English, Association of Waorani Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon) is promoting organic cacao cultivation as a wildlife protection measure and a pathway to local sustainable development.

This investment supports meeting human material needs by training women in harvest, post-harvest, and cocoa value chain production for the sale of dried and fermented cocoa, and production of bokashi-type fertilizers and organic insecticides based on chili.
Through this investment, AMWAE aimed to help start diversifying production on 160 farms approximately (1 hectare per family) with species such as peanuts, citrus fruits, and beans to promote food autonomy, and timber species such as balsa and cedar to strengthen the aroma and flavor properties of grains.

This project was sourced for Jonas Philanthropies via the Amazon Investor Coalition.

Pamiri Regenerative Agriculture, Tajikistan

The Indigenous Pamiri community have faced significant challenges in their homelands of Tajikistan. Despite this, they remain important stewards of the “Third Pole” — a collection of glaciers and riverbanks key to fortifying nearby rivers against increasing meltwater from glaciers upstream. This is “farming at the top of the world,” in mountainous regions which critically provide 85% of the water humans need.

This funding supported the Pamiri’s traditional farming practices, which are regenerative by definition, by bringing back medicinal plants and traditional strains of legumes, grains, and other foods. These practices naturally support biodiversity, as these crops grow within and regenerate the thin, rocky soil common in a country that is 97% mountainous.

These communities have created 10 seed banks that benefit 1,500 farmers across the region. These seed banks are populated with wheat, legume and vegetable seeds which play a vital role in preserving adapted local varieties of wheat, which are crucial for maintaining consistent yields and safeguard the local seed gene pool of seeds that produce better yields and are more resilient and well-adapted to the harsh climatic conditions of the region. This ensures food security, preserves biodiversity, and maintains traditional agricultural practices.

All of this ensures that traditional farming practices and knowledge, heritage seeds, biodiversity protection, and food security are carried forward for generations to come.

This project was sourced for Jonas Philanthropies via the Home Planet Fund.

Afforestation Along Glacial Rivers, Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s highest mountains are home to almost 4,000 glaciers, critically important for drinking water and irrigation. However, these glaciers are melting at an alarming rate — almost 14% of the total glacier area was lost between 1990 and 2015, leading to catastrophic, rock-laden floods.

Combining traditional knowledge and horticultural systems with best-practice forestry management, women and younger generations of Afghanis have grown more than 20 micro-forests, with a goal of creating another 400. These women-led reforestation projects address forest degradation, protect endemic and indigenous species and grow edible and medicinal plants.

Reforestation brings cooler temperatures and increased carbon sequestration. This can begin to slow the melting of the snowpack and glaciers in the high mountains, thus protecting the “third pole,” the largest area of glaciers and permafrost outside the polar regions, of which Afghanistan is a border country, along with Tajikistan which sits across the northern border. Slowing the melting of the glaciers and icefields within the third pole is of critical importance globally and locally, given that more than two billion people rely on its water for drinking, agriculture, and their economies.

This project was sourced for Jonas Philanthropies via the Home Planet Fund.

Ecological Committee of the Aldea de Suyapa, Honduras

COEAS was founded in the 1980s to protect the forests of Mount Triquilapa from Tegucigalpa’s urban growth. A critical watershed that provides water to thousands in the capital city, COEAS organization and its partners have long advocated for legal designation of the area as a national protected area and biological corridor.

In February 2024, as a result of a unanimous congressional vote, 12,620 acres of forest and a water source serving 5,000 families will be permanently protected as the Wildlife Refuge of Suyapa, co-managed by COEAS and the Institute for Honduras Conservation. Funding will help to support ongoing stewardship efforts and the transition to a locally-managed, resilient conservation organization.

Tribal-led Restoration in Santa Fe National Forest

New Mexico's 19 Native American Pueblos are some of the oldest Tribal communities in the country, and have been farming for thousands of years on the bank of the Rio Grande. Trees, Water, & People has been working with the Pueblos to help restore ancestral forests, grazing lands, and riparian zones harmed by significant fires and flooding in the past two decades.

New Mexico's post-fire reforestation needs are estimated to require 5 million trees per year, and seeds are the biggest bottleneck. This funding will employ Tribal Natural Resource crews in seed gathering efforts, a huge economic opportunity within critical ecological restoration work. This funding will also employ these local crews in upland reforestation, canyon restoration, erosion control, and reducing fuels on both Tribal and public lands.

Pastoralism Tenure in East Africa

“The landscape is our ancestral home. It defines us. Landscape, livelihood, and community are deeply connected.” - Mali Ole Kaunga, Home Planet Fund Partner in Kenya

Practiced by the Maasai, Samburu and Karamojong for 10,000 years, pastoralism is a way of livestock management based on traditional knowledge and science. These semi-nomadic communities guide flocks of cattle, goats, and sheep nearly 40km per day, tilling and fertilizing the soil, creating biodiversity hotspots, and sequestering carbon as they move across the land.

Rangelands managed under pastoralist systems are home to the region’s greatest populations of wildlife, including The Great Migration. Up to 500 kg of carbon per hectare are sequestered per year while maintaining this traditional way of life.

This project was sourced for Jonas Philanthropies via the Home Planet Fund.

Vlahoke Climate-Positive Ecolodge at Ekvn-Yefolecv, Maskoke Territory (Alabama)

Ekvn-Yefolecv (ee-gun yee-full-lee-juh) is an intentional ecovillage community of Indigenous Maskoke persons who returned to their homelands to practice language and cultural revitalization, ecological restoration, natural building construction and regenerative agriculture. This project supported the creation of Vlahoke, an off-grid, climate-positive, eco-learning space for retreats, meetings, spiritual gatherings, academic field immersive education and other events.

In addition to offering guests the opportunity to experience integrated regenerative systems, Vlahoke will feature a farm-to-table restaurant and a museum that serves as an educational platform centering on historical and contemporary Indigenous justice. The project is registered to meet the Living Building Challenge certification.

Mangrove Action Project Coastal Education Program Expansion

Education is often a missing link in conservation programs, especially when it comes to future generations. Mangrove Action Project has taught over half a million students in coastal communities around the world to inspire youth of all ages to appreciate & conserve their local mangroves.

Funding will help the expansion of this model, employed in 17 countries, which flexibly adjusts to diverse geographic, ecological, cultural + socioeconomic contexts.

Proyecto Rosenda, Mexico

The state of Oaxaca is home to one of the largest diverse Indigenous communities in the continent. It is also situated on the front lines of climate change, with longer droughts, floods and increasing yearly wildfires.

Proyecto Rosenda is a grassroots community project focused on holistic solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change. They are working directly with 45-50 families in six communities encompassing three ecologically diverse regions. This funding helped to provide water pumps and irrigation for their tree nursery as well as water for community use.

Native Health in Native Hands, California

Native Health in Native Hands promotes culturally responsive pathways for intergenerational wellness, with an important focus on the human health nexus. This project supported a collaboration between Native Health in Native Hands and Symbiotic Restoration to train Indigenous communities on Beaver Dam Analog (BDA) development.

These low-tech, human-made structures mimic the natural processes beavers help maintain in healthy streams and riparian systems. BDAs create habitat for fish, maintain connection between the water table and wetland vegetation, increase complexity in the stream channel, and catch sediment.

Be-Le Bo-m Landback, California

The Be-Le Bo-m Landback Initiative is a story of ancestral healing. The land, once a place where Indigenous peoples fled to when they were faced with genocide, persecution and forced removal, is now a rural, predominately poor area facing ever-increasing threats of extreme heat, catastrophic wildfires, and dangerous reactionary political unrest.

Funds will help to support efforts to acquire and rematriate the land, wiith plans to develop a community resilience center and an Indigenous framework for a Regenerative Economy to benefit people, land and living systems.

Expanding The Reach and Impact of Nature-based Solutions

Each of the communities and projects shared represent a powerful new way of thinking about addressing our collective climate crisis while supporting human and community flourishing and resilience. There has never been a more important time to shift philanthropic capital towards community-centered initiatives.

If you are a funder interested in supporting Nature-based Solutions projects, or if you have a project that would benefit from philanthropic or organizational support, get in touch with LIFT Economy.