GEF grants Conservation International $6.7 million to help protect Uganda’s shea trees, rural communities from climate change

GEF grants Conservation International $6.7 million to help protect Uganda’s shea trees, rural communities from climate change

ARLINGTON, Va. (June 5, 2025) – Today, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) approved USD $6.7 million for a new project, which will be implemented by Conservation International to support climate resilience for Uganda’s shea trees – and the people who depend on them.

Shea butter and oil products – made from the nuts of the flowering shea tree – are sold worldwide for cosmetics, medication and food. But the supply of shea from northern Uganda, where the trees grow in woodlands and savannas, is under pressure. Shea trees are now listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List.

Once abundant across sub-Saharan Africa, shea tree cover has dropped drastically – with Uganda losing 3.6 million hectares over the past 30 years due to deforestation, land development and drier environmental conditions driven by climate change. This poses an economic threat for the people of northern Uganda who process shea nuts – in particularly women who are traditionally involved in harvesting the nuts. The shea industry generates over USD $200 million a year for 16 million rural women farmers. In addition, these native trees support climate resilience. With their deep root systems, they prevent soil erosion, improve water retention and help store climate-warming carbon.

The GEF-funded Building a Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Shea Landscape of Northern Uganda project will support 4,320 people living across 4,500 hectares of four rural districts of northern Uganda, where nearly all residents (between 80-97%) depend on subsistence agriculture. Women will make up 60% of participants.

“This area and its people have a long history with shea, but new external pressures – from climate change and global demand for the tree’s products – are now threatening the traditional livelihoods of rural farmers, many of them women, who depend on shea trees to sustain their families and communities,” said Charity Nalyanya. “This project is designed to bolster the resilience of this existing, fruitful relationship between nature and people.”

The project will help stabilize and sustain shea production through both large- and small-scale interventions, including:

• improving local policies and decision-making around land and natural resources
• supporting agroforestry planning and training workshops
• making the commercial shea value chain more inclusive to women and young people
• restoring shea trees and monitoring tree cover
• increasing communities’ access to alternative financing for climate-resilient livelihoods
  

“Without this grant from the GEF, we wouldn’t be able to achieve the wide scope needed to properly support shea farmers as they transition to a more sustainable crop management system,” said Nalyanya. “At the current planned scale, I’m optimistic that this work will measurably support these rural communities who did so little to cause the current climate crisis now facing them. It comes down to climate justice.”

While African countries collectively account for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, they face disproportionately large climate impacts. Uganda is considered to be highly vulnerable to climate change, with limited capacity to adapt to growing challenges. 

In northern Uganda, shea trees have become less productive during seasons of high heat or water stress, driven by climate change. “Climate smart” efforts such as this GEF-funded project will be imperative to increasing economic and food security in the region as climate change accelerates.  

“This partnership executed under the leadership of the Ministry of Water and Environment of Uganda illustrates just how inextricably linked resilience is to human wellbeing and livelihoods,” GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodríguez said. “Conservation International and the Global Environment Facility are committed to working alongside both local communities and national authorities to restore the vulnerable shea trees so that they can continue to provide for the region and the larger global community long-term.”

The project will run from 2025 until 2029 and will partner with both the Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment and the Kampala-based nonprofit Africa Innovations Institute to execute work on-the-ground. Participating districts include Agago, Kitgum, Otuke and Pader, which collectively cover 15 thousand hectares of shea tree cover.

This GEF-funded work supports duel Conservation International imperatives of expanding nature-positive economies and stabilizing climate by protecting and restoring nature.

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ABOUT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL: Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Visit Conservation.org for more, and follow us on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. 

ABOUT THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) includes several multilateral funds working together to address the planet's most pressing challenges in an integrated way. Its financing helps developing countries address complex challenges and work towards meeting international environmental goals. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $26 billion in financing, primarily as grants, and mobilized another $148 billion for country-driven priority projects.