Southeast Asia—USAID Partnerships for Green Investment

Agricultural expansion is Southeast Asia’s biggest deforestation threat and has led to significant loss of biodiversity and disruption of ecosystems. Through the Partnerships for Green Investment activity, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) works to achieve greater emissions reductions, climate resilience, biodiversity protection, inclusiveness, and the equitable sharing of benefits along the land-based supply chains such as coffee, rubber, cacao, timber, and coconut.

The initiative builds on the successes of USAID Green Invest Asia that mobilized funds for sustainable investment to reduce a projected 156 million tons of carbon emissions from 1.7 million hectares in the land use sector across Southeast Asia. USAID Partnerships for Green Investment collaborates with private and public organizations across Southeast Asia to accelerate systemic changes in the land use sector to advance the USAID Climate Strategy and the U.S. government’s Indo-Pacific strategy.

The team aims to mobilize sustainable investments that will result in 50 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions reduced based on 15-year projections, and 1.5 million hectares of improved natural resource management, in addition to building locally led strategic partnerships for systemic change that accelerate net-zero, nature-positive, and climate-resilient operations in the region.

Sample Activities

• Increase sustainable and scalable investments in low-emission land use, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience in agriculture, forestry, and other land use supply chains.
• Help partners to implement credible environmental, social, and governance standards for low emissions, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience investments.
• Enhance inclusive and equitable benefit sharing to local communities and smallholders from value generated by the investments and new standards.