This project ?Youth-led Initiative for Nature-based Solutions to Climate Change? seeks to address the environmental challenges of poor waste management, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, soil erosion and land degradation, in the capital city and around the Western Area Peninsula National Park by:
- Establishing a Western Area Peninsula Youth Ecosystem Enterprise (WAPYEE) that will recycle organic waste through compost making, to support small-to-medium market gardening and indigenous tree nursery enterprises owned and managed by the Youth in Sussex/ Banga Farm.
- Provide ongoing training and capacity development of the youths in the business orientation and marketing of the organic fertilizer (compost), while developing an attractive demonstration project for further replication and possible up scaling in other communities around the Western Area and beyond
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The proposed project therefore, seeks to build on the established assets, knowledge base and linkages established by EFA with the forest edge communities over the years. EFA will focus on strengthening capacities among the youth, initially within the Sussex / Banga Farm Community, through undertaking an initiative that will enhance ecological restoration of degraded lands while enabling the economic empowerment of youths in the targeted community. Working from the Biodiversity and Renewable Energy Learning Centre, EFA will engage intensively with and provide high level technical supervision of the various activities, to realize successful implementation of the proposed project.

The project design adopts a holistic approach, integrating practical actions to address greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, land degradation, and climate change. All the challenges that this project seeks to address, as outlined above, have serious economic, social and ecological implications for the target groups, hence the focus on improving the economic and social livelihoods of the direct beneficiaries, by enabling their adaptive capacities, while contributing tangibly, to mitigating climate change impacts in the wider national context.

This project also fulfills a number of the GEF Objectives as follows:
- Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through recycling of certain waste products into manure;
- Alleviating poverty by creating a business out of producing and selling compost
- Reduce the local community?s dependence on destroying forests for their livelihoods, leading to less deforestation and land degradation
- Producing organic materials that will improve soil structure, enrich its fertility and ultimately improve crop production.