21 May 2014: The Local Environmental Coalition for a Green Union (FLEUVE) has held its First Consultative Stakeholder meeting, where project partners assessed the initiative’s progress and discussed opportunities for planning and financing sustainable land development (SLM) in five African countries.

The meeting, held at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, took place as the four-year initiative moves into its inception phase, following its launch at the December 2013 partnership forum for the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI). FLEUVE is currently planning micro-investment projects to expand economic opportunities and enhance the public and private investment climate for SLM for local communities in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Senegal. These projects are intended to help build a platform to share best practices and lessons learned on financing SLM, while promoting South-South learning, partnership and cooperation in and outside of the region.

FLEUVE is an EU-funded initiative that supports community-level sustainable development in ten African countries. The initiative is elaborated by the Global Mechanism (GM) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCCD) and conducted in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and its program, GGWSSI. [UNCCCD GM Press Release] [IISD RS Story on FLEUVE Launch]