Storytelling is part of the fabric that holds human societies together – stories connect us to our humanity, providing links to what has been, and a glimpse of what might be to come.
Spanning all 25 years of UNDP’s partnership with the GEF, the stories in this anniversary publication represent a small sample of the thousands that could be told. These stories stand as evidence that our work to protect the health of the planet is bringing about real improvements in people’s lives and changes in the way governments, businesses and civil society think about the environment, develop policies and do their work.
The storytellers include people from all walks of life, including subsistence farmers, civil society leaders, captains of industry, environmental practitioners, renowned academics and government ministers. The common thread that binds their stories together is the message of transformational impact that promises a brighter future.
- Food for tomorrow, in any weather: Fostering resilience for food security in Benin
- Knowledge is our strength: Building resilience to flooding in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- A precious gift: Developing capacity for renewable energy in Tajikistan
- Fishing for the future: Transforming management of tuna fisheries in the Pacific
- Reducing the load: Managing transboundary nutrient pollution in the Danube/Black Sea basin
- Rays of hope: Greening the reconstruction of Lebanon
- Saving the planet, one appliance at a time: Towards sound management of e-wastes in China
- A chemical shake-up: Integrated management of hazardous chemical wastes in Ecuador
- Threads of life: Women restoring wild cotton species and indigenous practices in Peru
- Cleaning up our act: Conserving fragile ecosystems in the Galapagos islands
- Namibia: sequencing beautifully! Taking protected areas to new levels
- Cool tech: Building capacity for reducing ozone-depleting substances
- Bringing the land to life: empowering women through improved land stewardship in Kenya
- The power of peat: Restoring ecosystem health to peatlands in Belarus
- Welcome to my forest: Working to save tigers from extinction
- Adapting to the Himalayan meltdown: Reducing the risk of glacial lake outburst floods in Bhutan
- Science for Sustainability: Turning Challenges into Opportunities in Cuba
- Planting power: Empowering women to address land degradation in India
- Ridge to reef living landscapes: A model for community-based conservation in Papua New Guinea
- Coastal calculations: Climate-proofing communities in the Cook Islands
- Biodiversity for development: Weaving environmental benefits into the fabric of society
- We are a large ocean state: Environmental innovations for sustainable development of Seychelles
- Conserving the cold sea river: Civil society and government working together in Patagonia
- Learning to live together: Community conservation in the Altai Sayan ecoregion