The impact of climate change has no geographical boundaries. It affects everyone, all over the world, and is particularly hard on those whose livelihoods depend directly on the natural environment. Climate change is one cause of poverty, hunger and natural disasters.
Climate change around the world is creating new challenges for those involved in international development, since poor countries and population groups are much harder hit than prosperous ones. Climate change hampers development and jeopardises the progress that has already been achieved. For this reason, climate change mitigation and management are increasingly important elements of development cooperation. The SDC's Global Programme Climate Change, in particular, takes account of this trend.
Global Programme Climate Change and Environment division
SDC Shareweb on climate change and the environment
The One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership
Switzerland's international climate policy (Federal Office for the Environment)
UN commitment to climate change
Vidéo «Globalprogramm Klimawandel und Umwelt: kleine Massnahmen, grosse Wirkung»
Flyer Climate Change: A SDC Global Programme (PDF, 8 Pages, 1.0 MB, English)
Biofuels, opportunity or threat to the poor? (PDF, 10 Pages, 178.3 kB, English)
01.07.2024
- 31.07.2027
To adapt to climate change farmers rely increasingly on irrigation, ultimately depleting groundwater resources and raising energy demand. The project aims to address these challenges by promoting solar irrigation, water efficient agriculture and groundwater governance. The project will harness Swiss expertise on hydrogeology and technical innovations to contribute to climate resilient agriculture and facilitate knowledge sharing in South Asia and at the global level.
01.12.2023
- 30.09.2027
Mountain ecosystems and societies are particularly sensitive to climate change. Targeted adaptation measures are essential to increase the resilience of livelihoods and ecosystems in mountains. The programme will harness Swiss expertise and generate information on climate change impacts and related adaptation strategies in mountains and feed them into regional science-policy platforms and global policy frameworks for adaptation planning in mountains.
01.10.2023
- 30.06.2027
India is one of the most severely affected countries by air pollution in the world. This project will contribute to India’s new National Clean Air Programme, with the aim to improve air quality with co-benefits on public health, environment and climate change. Capacity building and technical assistance through Swiss expertise will support data measurement and analysis, city level clean air action plans and awareness raising campaigns to take precautionary measures and mitigate air pollution.
01.04.2023
- 31.07.2025
Ce projet vise à renforcer les capacités de six communes d’Haïti afin qu'elles puissent fournir des services d'eau potable et d'assainissement résilients aus risques et catastrophes à la population. En vue de la fin de la coopération bilatérale de la Suisse en Haïti, la phase II consolide et met à l'échelle les acquis de la première phase et intègre des approches du projet direct humanitaire « Réduction des Risques de Catastrophes Naturelles ».
07.02.2023
- 30.06.2023
A cholera crisis is spreading across Southern Africa. Malawi is undergoing the wost crisis since years. Numerous cases have also been diagnosed in Mozambique, where the epidemy is developing very fast since January 2023 . This contribution aims at containing the spread of the outbreak through Infection and Prevention Control (IPC) measures as well as medical treatment of people affected by cholera in Mozambique.
20.01.2023
- 31.12.2024
The intervention seeks to improve the national emergency response capacities of Mongolia in the area of Urban Search And Rescue (USAR). In Mongolia, USAR services are delivered by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Capacity building will be pursued through a selection of measures with special focus on targeted training in USAR techniques on the newly built training facilities, as well as support for organizational and operational conceptualization.
01.01.2023
- 31.12.2027
Natural resources, particularly water and pasture, are among the key determinants of pastoralist livelihoods’ sustainability. The proposed Project contributes to the outcomes of the SDC’s Food Security Domain as stipulated in the Swiss Cooperation Strategy Horn of Africa. It aims at improving pastoralist food security and adaptive capacities in the lowlands of Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia, through enhancing the sustainable management of natural resources.
01.01.2023
- 31.12.2024
More than 100 countries are affected by desertification, and 42% of the world’s poor live in these areas, posing a serious challenge to sustainable development. The United Nations’ Convention to Combat Desertification works at avoiding, reducing, and reversing desertification, linking sustainable land management to social and economic development. Switzerland, Party to the Convention, provides a core and an additional voluntary financing to specifically contribute to common priorities.
01.12.2022
- 30.11.2027
The contribution to the Aga Khan Foundation project aims at improving the resilience of livelihoods of the remote rural communities of Rasht valley, vulnerable to climate change. The local population will get equitable access to water and sanitation and childcare services. The population and particularly women will get income generation opportunities and engage in management, regeneration and protection of their natural resources while adopting disaster risk reduction measures and practices.
01.12.2022
- 31.12.2026
ICIMOD is a regional intergovernmental knowledge and learning center serving its eight member countries in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region. SDC support towards strengthening ICIMOD’s role as an enabler of regional cooperation and informed policy dialogue will benefit mountain communities through green, climate resilient and inclusive development, while profiting from Swiss thematic expertise.
14.11.2022
- 31.10.2025
The project aims at strengthening policy dialogue on Disaster Risk Reduction and Rapid Response among Andean countries in particular and within the Latin America countries in general. The participation of SDC’s key partners in DRR and humanitarian events (e.g. the yearly Humanitarian Network and Partnership Week) will facilitate knowledge exchange, experience sharing and increased collaboration within the region. The project will further contribute to this by engaging in knowledge management supporting regional policy dialogue, and by financially contributing to specific events.
14.11.2022
- 31.12.2024
An oil spill from the Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) tanker “Safer” could occur at any time, discharging up to 1’148’000 mio barrels of crude oil along Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and neighbouring countries, affecting the lives and livelihoods of up to 12 million people. Through this contribution, Switzerland supports the United Nations’ salvage operation to prevent an oil spill in the Red Sea and its potentially disastrous impacts on Yemen and the region.
