The International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Building climate resilience and addressing crises for at-risk populations
The Trafigura Foundation is working to build the resilience of vulnerable communities around the world so that shocks inflicted by climate change and conflict do not cast them into further crisis.
The challenge
Escalating deforestation and land degradation in the Amazon threaten the livelihoods of its people as well as the integrity of its rich and valuable ecosystems. Halting and reversing these trends requires measures that simultaneously combat deforestation, safeguard the rights of local communities to their land and way of life, and foster their socioeconomic development.
Rural communities often find it hard to access markets for their produce (such as açai, Brazil nuts and cocoa). Moreover, local enterprises usually lack competitiveness and market linkages and fail to comply with procurement procedures and sustainability requirements.
The solution
Conexsus, a Brazilian civil society organisation, helps community enterprises in remote areas of the Amazon to gain business maturity and connect to national and international markets while increasing revenues for traditional livelihood. In doing so, it empowers them to become robust and resilient drivers of income generation, forest conservation, and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Partnership impact
The Trafigura Foundation is supporting the International Rescue Committee’s initiatives to enable vulnerable communities to cope with the impacts of climate hazards and conflict on their livelihoods and food supply, and better protect their assets.
The programme is global in scope, but focuses on priority countries such as Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria. Alongside this, through IRC’s AA portfolio, the Trafigura Foundation is supporting organizational efforts in developing contingency planning and analysis for potential future responses in Central America (Guatemala) and East Africa (Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia).
Concretely, the partnership will help the International Rescue Committee to establish an anticipatory action fund to finance and
deliver risk-reducing activities before crises occur; to develop adaptation solutions in areas including seed security, disaster risk reduction, and livelihood diversification; and to spread the knowledge gained and increase advocacy so innovative action can be scaled up.
The partnership aims to:
- Support the Anticipatory Action Fund
- Scale up a seed security project for farms in northeast Syria
- Design and test more innovative climate resilience solutions
Three-year grant (2024-2026)
