Hydroponics farming, recycling, organic catering, agro-forestry, eco tours and landscaping.
These are some of the ‘green’ ideas that can potentially be converted into business ventures for households, community-based organisations, non-government organisations and existing businesses that are located within the Vaisigano River Catchment Area (VRCA).
These new businesses will be funded under the Ecosystem-based Adaptation Enterprise Development Programme (EbAEDP), an activity under the Green Climate Fund Vaisigano Catchment Project (GCF-VCP).
The EbAED will be implemented under the leadership of the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (MNRE), in partnership with the Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP) and the Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC).
CSSP and SBEC have announced a Call for Proposals for EbAED, which aims at improving income generation and livelihoods of the targeted communities of the VRCA at the household level, as well as upgrading existing enterprise development activities without increasing the impact on the natural environment. It will also assist with the establishment of new enterprise activities within the communities in the VRCA that are compliant with the EbA criteria, that would otherwise be financially unviable.
Proposed business activities will also have to contribute to meeting the objectives of the GCF VCP Activity 2.2., namely flood mitigation, environmental sustainability, gender equity, youth empowerment and increased community resilience to climate change.
A series of awareness workshops regarding the Call are being carried out this week at different locations for the 31 eligible villages within the VRCA, from Afiamalu-east at the topmost part of the VRCA, down to Matautu-tai.
