In 2020, the world changed dramatically and despite the uncertainty and the impacts of COVID-19, the efforts to face this unprecedented crisis have made us stronger by teaching us how to transform our vulnerabilities into resilience.

As we face one of the planet’s last opportunities to address the climate crisis, community-led solutions are helping us move forward with holistic adaptive approaches that are in harmony with nature. Community-led solutions are needed now more than ever, and the results experienced through the DGM are demonstrating that climate action cannot be achieved without solidarity, equity, and inclusion.

With over 600 IPLC-designed and led subgrants in nine countries and with some country projects reaching their end dates, it is now more important than ever that these subgrants and results achieved do not come to a halt at project closure but rather, are sustained and expanded.

By being projects for and from IPLCs, the hope is that they will continue independently of country project timelines, given that they were designed by community members based on their collective interests and needs.

DGM is starting a new phase where country projects like Peru, Burkina Faso, and Brazil are wrapping up with exciting results and valuable lessons learned that are informing not only DGM projects but the whole climate and conservation community. The results will help us prepare, adapt, and find more opportunities to support continuation and scale up of successful community-led initiatives.