About

Reversing Environmental Degradation in Africa and Asia (REDAA) is a programme that supports research and action in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia by offering grants and facilitating mutual learning between partners. 

Funded initiatives are locally led, interdisciplinary, and focused on solutions for ecosystem restoration and climate resilience, enabling people and nature to thrive. Projects can aim to improve evidence, apply new tools or strengthen governance systems to support nature-positive actions, enhance local livelihoods and tackle the impacts of climate change. The REDAA programme aims to build local capacity and foster collaboration among practitioners. It also seeks to broaden the impact of its research-to-action initiatives by sharing generated knowledge with a wider community of practice. Community members work together on learning events, capacity-boosting support and co-creating knowledge outputs.

Through what it supports and the learning it shares and communicates, the programme will help policymakers, practitioners and people in business better understand natural landscapes, prioritise more ambitious sustainable strategies and allocate the right financial and human resources to take action. The programme is an exciting opportunity to improve how nature is nurtured, accessed, and used to restore ecosystems effectively and equitably, and reverse environmental degradation. 

REDAA is funded by UK International Development from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and managed by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

REDAA runs until 2029.

Funding from the REDAA programme is also supporting innovation and exploration. It has allowed a range of organisations to put great ideas for restoring nature and helping people to thrive into practice through the demonstrator projects.

REDAA complements a number of current international research and funding initiatives in the United Kingdom, including The Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC); Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE); Equitable nature-based climate resilience in sub-Saharan Africa. REDAA has also collaborated on other projects. 

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The Nature Facility

The Nature Facility is a support hub, managed by IIED, that helps FCDO staff and partners put nature at the heart of their work.

By advancing nature-based solutions to development and climate challenges, it supports the UK’s international commitments on climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development, making FCDO’s work more effective. 

Strategy and governance

The strategy of the research-to-action programme REDAA has been co-developed by teams from FCDO, IIED and experts from institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. 

A series of scoping papers have also contributed to shaping the REDAA strategy, identifying research-to-action gaps, challenges and opportunities to help both people and nature thrive. The strategy aims to optimise REDAA’s contribution by integrating with other related initiatives.

The REDAA programme adopts a ‘distributed’ management and governance structure, which will see FCDO as the main financial contributor for the programme. Other funders may join the programme. This document sets out the governance plans for the REDAA programme.