Shared Resources Joint Solutions

Photo by Erwin Mascarinas

From 2016 – 2020, IUCN NL, WWF Netherlands and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs formed a partnership to strengthen the capacity of local NGOs and civil society organisations in a total of 16 low- and middle-income countries to join forces with the public and private sector to protect climate resilience, the water supply and food security.

Around the world, ecosystems and the services they provide are under pressure. The growing world population and the drive for economic growth are increasingly forcing nature to make way for large-scale agriculture, mining and infrastructure. This is causing an imbalance in ecosystems worldwide and has put a growing number of plant and animal species at risk of extinction. This has a negative impact not only on the natural world itself, but also on human beings, who depend on the services nature provides. Local communities are losing their livelihoods, while businesses are also suffering due to the finiteness of natural resources.

Balancing economic, environmental and social values

If we are to safeguard our natural capital for the future, we need to find a balance between economic, environmental and social values. This calls for an integrated landscape approach whereby the interests of the various stakeholders in a specific landscape are aligned with, and in balance with, the capacity of the natural world.

Advocating inclusive and green development

Yet local communities and conservationists – represented in civil society organisations – tend to be only tangentially involved in decision-making processes regarding their landscape and their natural environment, despite these groups having extensive knowledge of the landscape and natural environment and being the first to experience the negative effects of any changes to these natural resources. IUCN NL, WWF Netherlands and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairsare therefore helping NGOs and civil society organisations to increase their influence in multi-stakeholder partnerships with governments and businesses and are working to strengthen their leverage in successfully advocating for inclusive and green development.

Shared Resources Joint Solutions (SRJS) was one of the 25 strategic partnerships in the policy framework ‘Dialogue and Dissent’ of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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