Nature Enabling development in a sustainable way that respects the environment and the livelihoods that depend on it
Our world-class environmental services team ensures that effective natural resource management is integrated into all DAI projects, so economic competitiveness is achieved in a sustainable way that respects the environment and the livelihoods that depend on it. Through innovations in forestry, watershed resource management, water supply and sanitation, financing and business development, and local governance reform, we help improve the welfare of communities worldwide. DAI technical staff provide the following range of services:
Community-Based Natural Resource Management — We create the enabling policy and legislative framework that devolves management rights and authority to local government and communities in the forestry, fisheries, and wildlife sectors. Our work building local capacity for sound resource management balances income generation with long-run sustainability, providing tangible economic benefits for local people while conserving the resource base.
Biodiversity Conservation — We support governments and local communities in their efforts to conserve high-value biodiversity through sound conservation and generate tangible benefits in an equitable manner, focusing on threatened species and endangered ecosystems.
Water Resource Management — As a leader on many U.S. Agency for International Development water programs in the Middle East, Asia, and now Africa, we specialize in improving the management and use of water resources, with an emphasis on improving water supply and sanitation services, enhancing water demand management, upgrading utility financing and operations, using water more efficiently in agriculture, reforming water sector policy and streamlining regulation, and establishing high-impact public-private alliances.
Environmental Policy and Impact Assessment — Building better policy and legislative frameworks leads to better-managed natural resources and more effective conservation of biological diversity. We support good governance by working with local authorities and communities to promote broad participation, advocacy, and accountability, while emphasizing compliance with environmental regulations and reducing environmental impacts.
Livelihoods — We integrate multiple development disciplines—including agriculture and agribusiness, small and medium-sized enterprise development, private sector productivity, environmental management, and infrastructure and community development—into comprehensive programs that address the difficult social and economic issues inherent in areas devoted to large-scale drug crop production.
Energy — We work at the intersection of climate change adaptation and mitigation on initiatives that include promoting renewable energy, supporting energy efficiency, and promoting carbon offset initiatives that reward "low carbon emitters" (organizations that use renewable energy or are especially efficient in meeting their energy needs) and carbon sequesterers such as forest management groups with funding from "high-carbon emitters" (typically industries in developing countries that buy carbon credits to offset their emissions).
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation — We build the capacity and catalyze the commitment of governments and community groups to adopt resource management strategies that mitigate climate change as well as adapt to its near-term local economic impacts. Our work includes brokering payments for ecosystem services ranging from carbon markets to revenues from tourism and improved watershed management.
For more information on DAI's services in Energy and Climate Change, click here.
