The Livelihoods Fund is giving tens of thousands of people around the world greater access to food, while at the same time helping companies offset their carbon emissions.

Scoop Independent News reports that the fund is estimated to store 6.1 million Teq of carbon dioxide over the next two decades. This will be achieved through agroforestry and projects that restore and preserve natural ecosystems and boost rural energy supplies.

Says the Fund’s President, Bernard Giraud: “[It] helps the private sector meet its carbon emission reduction targets, while securing funding for the restoration of habitats that have an important role to play in reducing poverty and food insecurity for some of the world’s most vulnerable people”.

The Fund has worked cooperatively with IUCN and Ramsar to develop a methodology for carbon accounting of large-scale mangrove restoration which has made it easier to implement large-scale projects. In Senegal, mangrove restoration has improved soil condition and helped 450 villages to thrive in fish, oysters and crab.

In India, the Fund has seen food security boosted for 65,000 people living in the Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh through the planting of fruit trees.

“Through this innovative investment model, carbon finance provides real opportunities rather than being an end in itself,” says Giraud.

Read the full story: Investment in carbon capture— lifeline to poor

More information on the Livelihoods Fund