Project Summary
Countries: Timor Leste
Delivery Partner: International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF)
Project Partners: IUCN- International Union for Conservation of Nature, FUNDAÇÃO BIAMALAI, Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO)
Principal Investigator: Sonya Dewi, International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF)
Challenge
The AFBIO project is designed to deliver transformative outcomes by directly addressing the interconnected challenges of poverty, biodiversity loss, and climate change in Timor-Leste. Focusing on a «landscape-to-seascape» approach, the project empowers communities by establishing an ecological matrix of climate-smart agroforestry and agrosilvofishery systems for resilience livelihoods. This will restore crucial habitat connectivity and prevent ecological disintegration beyond protected areas.
The project will address critical environmental and socio-economic challenges through four key outcomes:
• Enhanced Governance: We will establish new governance frameworks that integrate non-conservation areas, empowering stakeholders to manage resources cooperatively.
• Empowered Farmers: Farmers will be equipped with knowledge, skills, and resources, including a local nursery, to become stewards of agrobiodiversity.
• Green Enterprises: We will foster profitable, nature-based businesses by creating clear business plans and value chain analyses, directly addressing poverty.
• Broader Impact: Our findings will be documented as evidencebased policy recommendations for scalability across TimorLeste and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Innovating through scientific modeling and inclusive partnerships, we will explore the potential for new Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) guided by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. A core commitment to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) ensures equitable access to resources and opportunities, ensuring the project’s long-term sustainability and impact.
Header Image: Forest canopies meet thriving agroforestry and agricultural fields in Aileu Municipality, Timor-Leste. Credit to Hikmah Fajar Assidiq
More on the project will be added soon. In the meantime, explore our Projects page to discover the diverse portfolio of initiatives GCBC is supporting around the world, and see where our research is making an impact.
