News Overview

The CGIAR Nature-Positive Solutions Initiative made considerable progress in Burkina Faso. Activities with women’s groups, schools and climate-challenged smallholders established new frameworks to promote nature-positive activities and research. This report highlights NATURE+ activities across three years in Burkina Faso and looks ahead at the Initiative’s continued work in the CGIAR Research Portfolio 2025-2030. Read the Country Report: Nature+ in Burkina

CGIAR’s Nature-Positive Solutions Initiative took significant strides in Colombia. Identification of neglected and underutilized crops (NUS), the groundwork for a community seed bank and helping farmers move away from extractive farming and toward nature-positive practices were highlights. Strong collaborations fostered growth for bioeconomy startups. This report covers NATURE+ in Colombia and its continued work in the CGIAR Research Portfolio 2025-2030.

The CGIAR Nature-Positive Solutions had several successes in India. Most of the Initiative’s key activities happened in tribal areas in Maharashtra State. As with much of NATURE+’s work – particularly on neglected and underutilized species, or NUS – traditional knowledge was key to the Initiative’s activities on crops, trees and nature-positive agriculture in India. The Initiative’s highlights included launching a

CGIAR’s Nature-Positive Solutions Initiative achieved wide-ranging and comprehensive results in Kenya. Building on CGIAR’s community seed banks, NATURE+ established two aggregated farms for cooperative permaculture, and rallied another community to implement nature- positive solutions on their small farms. The Initiative rolled out an app that guides farmers on native-tree reforestation and provides economic incentives for successful tree establishment. All work

CGIAR’s Nature-Positive Solutions Initiative made substantial progress in Northern Vietnam, alongside rural, Indigenous communities who were the Initiative’s main partners. The hilly landscapes are rich in threatened and understudied agrobiodiversity, which some communities still successfully cultivate. To help landholders address soil degradation and unsustainable agricultural intensification, NATURE+ and partners studied traditional crops, promoted their sustainable use and conservation through value

A series of studies reveals the concerning extent of food insecurity, soil erosion and productivity challenges in four countries where NATURE+ conducts research. Greater implementation of sustainable nature-positive activities and women’s empowerment interventions, strengthening community-based approaches, and enhancing market integration could provide multiple fixes. But these solutions require engagement with communities and multisectoral coordination by governments and implementing agencies. The

CGIAR’s Nature-Positive Solutions Initiative (NATURE+), in collaboration with partners Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth Rahuri (MPKV) and BAIF, conducted a study on nature-positive watershed strategies for carbon sequestration in two micro watersheds in Akole taluka, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. The study’s purpose was to provide a comprehensive understanding of how watersheds function and how nature-positive solutions can optimize their role in

By 2024, the NATURE+ Initiative’s circular bioeconomy activity reached dozens of communities in five countries, creating, enhancing or establishing new and independent sustainable circular economy income sources. The successes demonstrate that the Initiative’s RECYCLE work package created wins for both people and nature, embodying the ethos of the Initiative. The highly collaborative work shows that governments, the private sector and