In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, climate change hits hardest those who live directly from the forest, the rivers and the land. Through its programme supporting Nature-based Solutions, Climate Change Africa Opportunities (CCAO) is making a simple bet: nature itself remains adaptation's strongest ally — provided its stewardship is entrusted to the communities who know it best.

Making nature an ally

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems in ways that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, while delivering benefits for human well-being and biodiversity.

In practice, this means building on the capital nature already provides: forests, mangroves, peatlands, seagrass beds, wetlands and living soils. More than technical instruments, NbS are answers — accessible, durable, and often far less costly than hard infrastructure.

Their implementation also generates a wide range of co-benefits. Two of them sit at the heart of the programme delivered by CCAO: reducing gender inequality and including the most vulnerable people.

Four broad categories of Nature-based Solutions

• Restoration of forest ecosystems — ecological restoration, ecological engineering and forest landscape restoration.
• Infrastructure-related approaches — in particular the development of green and blue infrastructure.
• Ecosystem management approaches — integrated coastal zone management and water resources management.
• Ecosystem protection — area-based conservation approaches, including protected area management.

On the ground: initiatives supported by CCAO in the DRC

• The programme translates into concrete interventions, designed with communities and tailored to the realities of each territory:
• Restoring and sustainably managing wetlands and rivers, in order to maintain or increase fish stocks and fishing-based livelihoods, reduce flood risk and open up recreational and tourism opportunities.
• Conserving forests in support of food and energy security, local incomes, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and biodiversity.
• Restoring drylands and degraded land to strengthen water security, consolidate livelihoods and increase household resilience to climate shocks.
• Developing and implementing green infrastructure, drawing on natural coastal defences — barrier islands, mangrove forests and coral reefs — to protect shorelines and communities from coastal flooding and the impacts of sea-level rise.
• Supporting community-based management of fisheries and natural resources, recognising local communities as fully fledged resource managers.

A choice rooted in the DRC's commitments

Turning to NbS is not only ecologically sound: it responds directly to the international commitments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Paris Agreement, under the UNFCCC, calls on States to strengthen their adaptive capacity, while the DRC's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) place ecosystem-based adaptation among national priorities.

Biodiversity conservation policies point in the same direction — from the Convention on Biological Diversity's Strategic Plan 2011-2020 and its Aichi Targets through to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2022, which explicitly recognises the contribution of Nature-based Solutions to adaptation and resilience.

Communities at the centre

This is why Climate Change Africa Opportunities (CCAO) systematically combines ecosystem and biodiversity conservation with sustainable socio-economic development. Technical skills building, secure use rights, market access, and the effective participation of women and young people in decision-making bodies: every intervention is designed so that restoring an ecosystem also delivers a measurable improvement in living conditions.

By placing Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the centre of its work, CCAO aims to make climate change adaptation not a constraint to be endured, but a locally built, durable strategy that creates opportunities for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

CCAO Team

Climate Change Africa Opportunities (CCAO)