Land and watershed degradation in Ethiopia threaten agricultural productivity, water supplies, and livelihoods. Key challenges include inadequate financing and unsustainable conservation interventions. Innovative financing strategies can help attract domestic and international investments for conservation interventions, or “nature-based solutions” (NBS).

This technical note outlines the methodology used to create a region-wide dataset of projects that have implemented NBS for climate- and water-resilience objectives in two multilateral development bank (MDB) portfolios — the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The resulting dataset includes 85 projects led by these MDBS over a 10-year period (2012‒21), including 46 projects from the World Bank and 39 projects from the African Development Bank. Total budgets for World Bank projects were $7.9 billion (including $2.5 billion for components with NBS), and total budgets for African Development projects $4.2 billion (including $2 billion for components with NBS). The countries with the largest number of projects were Ethiopia (10), Ghana (7), Malawi (7), Tanzania (6), Uganda (6), and Democratic Republic of the Congo (5). The technical note also demonstrates how these projects are leveraging NBS to address urgent challenges faced by communities in SSA, including urban flooding, coastal flooding, and water security. Additionally, the note illustrates numerous types of co-benefits that NBS are generating, including biodiversity, livelihoods, and opportunities for carbon sequestration.