AKDN | Environment and Climate Change

The communities whom we serve include those most vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation. In mountainous areas of Asia, temperatures are increasing three times faster than the global average, with Eastern Africa also greatly affected. India and Bangladesh are amongst the nations most affected by sea levels rising. Residents of informal urban settlements, such as those in Mumbai and Dhaka, often live on land at high risk from extreme weather.

Natural hazards such as floods and avalanches are increasing in frequency and intensity. Water availability is decreasing as snow cover declines, sea water rises and glaciers are lost. Energy supplies are under threat even as demand rises. Reduced food yields are combining with the health effects of climate disruptions, from respiratory illnesses to geographical changes to infectious diseases.

We want to ensure that the Earth can sustainably support current and future generations.

Nature-based Solutions

AKDN agencies, with local communities, are harnessing nature’s ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Our diverse activities include:

• reforestation in mountainous Asia;


• planting tropical forests in East Africa;


• creating mangrove plantations in coastal areas of the Indian ocean;


• creating and maintaining urban green spaces; and


• promoting conservation agriculture techniques in Southeast Asia and Africa.

AKDN agencies planted over 3.2 million trees in 2021. We ensure this work is sustainable. For example, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat’s (AKAH) collaboration with the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan includes installing solar-powered water pumps and water infrastructure. This ensures sufficient water for the tree plantation sites.

Tree planting not only helps absorb carbon, but when carefully situated can contribute to disaster risk mitigation, wind protection, shade, wastewater filtration and groundwater recharge. The Aga Khan University (AKU) has planted 40,000 moringa trees in rural Sindh, Pakistan, a region where malnutrition is a serious concern. This is a resilient native species with very high nutritious value. Its leaves have seven times more vitamin C than oranges and 15 times more potassium than bananas. It also has calcium, protein, iron and amino acids. Moringa trees also absorb up to two and half times the amount of carbon than other trees in the region.

Clean Energy

Energy is by far the biggest source of human greenhouse gas emissions. AKDN promotes de-carbonisation of our energy systems by investing in zero-emission renewable energy.

• The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development’s (AKFED) energy plants in East Africa and Central Asia generated over 1.8 billion kWh of clean electricity in 2021.


• The Bujagali hydropower plant on the River Nile reuses water used for generation in upstream power projects and has increased Uganda’s effective generation capacity by a third.


• Pamir Energy supplies clean electricity to 96 percent of the population of Badakhshoni Kuhi in Tajikistan.


• The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) focuses on small-scale projects such as off-grid micro-hydel projects, managed by communities. Over 32,000 people are using this infrastructure.


• The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in India provides farmers with solar photovoltaic systems to power their irrigation and drinking water supply.


• AKF has provided solar-powered smart toilets for government schools in Bihar, India. Girls no longer need to go home to use the toilet, allowing them to spend more time in school, and a biodigester enables farmers to use the waste as organic fertiliser.


• AKFED printing and packaging company Allpack is powered by more than 1,400 solar panels, eliminating 90,750 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year and winning an award at the 2020 Energy Management Awards in Kenya.

Climate-smart Agriculture

In arid countries of East Africa and Central Asia, water availability is an increasing concern. Small-scale farmers are dependent on erratic and increasingly scarce rain. Infrequent rains and extreme weather conditions have resulted in reduced crop yields and, in turn, household incomes. To be able to thrive in a changing climate, these farmers need access to drought-tolerant and early maturing crops along with investments in saving water and improved irrigation.

AKF has worked with more than 570,000 farmers and 12,000 local natural resources management institutions to help them adapt their farming systems to the changing climate. New techniques and inputs include identifying appropriate seed varieties, planning for soil health management and implementing water management innovations, including solar-based irrigation systems and micro-irrigation devices. AKF has established more than 7,000 irrigation schemes, which have irrigated over 220,000 hectares of land.

In Madagascar, AKF has introduced a new rice cultivation technique, the Zanatany Rice Permaculture System. This allows smallholder farmers to maintain their rice yields, while significantly reducing labour requirements and irrigation needs and consequently greenhouse gas emissions. The technique is now being adopted elsewhere in Africa and India.

AKFED also helps farmers to address these challenges. Frigoken, an AKFED company, is the largest vegetable processing company in East Africa. It works directly with thousands of small-scale farmers to employ climate-resilient agricultural practices such as the sustainable and efficient use of water. The company also works with the farmers and other partners to tailor-make solutions such as furrows, wells, communal pumps and drip irrigation.

Meanwhile, the University of Central Asia’s (UCA) research on sustainable livestock farming is helping the Kyrgyz Republic adapt to drought and land degradation.

Natural Resource Management

AKAH integrates Eco Disaster Risk Reduction and Natural Resource Management programmes across its projects. It works with communities in Tajikistan, India and Syria to map and model water resources, introduce water conservation and recharge measures, and strengthen water management and governance. It supports community-owned plans for land use, which also improve agriculture and livelihoods.

AKF supports an array of natural resource management tchniques. In 2021, it brought 24,000 hectares of natural resource assets under low emission and climate resilient management practices.

We focus on the quality of life and well-being of the poorest and most vulnerable in society. AKAH helps communities to mitigate risks, whether by planting trees to reduce landslide occurrence, retrofitting buildings to be earthquake proof or building flood defences. The agency helps communities adapt to a changing climate by anticipating and managing the risks they face through hazard assessments, early warning systems, weather monitoring systems, and building local, community-led emergency response capacity. It also works with communities to protect their homes and infrastructure while mitigating climate change using nature-based solutions.

• In Pakistan, AKAH is working with the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan to help implement Pakistan’s Ten Billion Tree Tsunami, an ambitious nation-wide afforestation effort. AKAH is providing technical advice to help the government select 300 sites in Gilgit-Baltistan for plantation to stabilise soil and slopes to protect settlements and critical infrastructure from landslides and other natural hazards.


• Following a devastating flood in 2017 in Dasht-e-Dehkhaw in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, AKAH is helping the local community to voluntarily relocate to a nearby safer site. To secure the new site, AKAH, together with the local community, planted 3,500 trees to help stabilise a dangerous slope and protect the village below from deadly avalanches and rockfalls.


• In Tajikistan, AKAH is working with government partners and Caritas to introduce a forest plantation model that integrates income-generation opportunities with disaster risk reduction benefits. The multipurpose plantation approach promotes diverse vegetation to protect against avalanche, landslide and flash flood risks.

We aim to take socially responsible leadership on the most urgent issue of our time, working with others for maximum impact.

• We are partnering with His Royal Highness Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, on The Earthshot Prize. Five prizes of £1 million are being awarded annually to recipients who identify solutions to global environmental problems.


• The five themes are:
  
  
  
  • Protect and restore nature
  
  
  • Clean our air
  
  
  • Revive our oceans
  
  
  • Build a waste-free world
  
  
  • Fix our climate
  
  
  
  

During the next decade, we hope to find 50 new solutions to environmental crises and the improvement of living standards, particularly for communities who are most at risk from climate change.

• AKAH, AKU and UCA have launched the documentary series Voices from the Roof of the World. This will help filmmakers in Central and South Asia produce impactful documentaries about the consequences of global warming, helping to build momentum for change.


• The Graduate School of Media and Communications’ environmental reporting programme has worked with East African filmmakers to produce an award-winning environmental documentary series. Giving Nature a Voice reaches millions of Kenyans to inspire environmental action.

The fourth principle is leading by example. We aim to become net carbon zero by 2030, and to share our experiences with others to create awareness, increase impact, influence policy and transform society.

Environmentally-friendly Infrastructure

AKAH is developing capabilities in green energy, sustainable materials, low-carbon construction, and energy and water efficiency. The agency has created green building guidelines for new and existing AKDN buildings that will reduce operational energy by 40 percent. For example, passive design features such as insulation, window orientation and natural ventilation can reduce the need for heating, cooling and lighting. We promote the use of natural materials including wood, earth and stone. In future, all large new AKDN developments will be zero carbon during operation. We also seek to reduce construction, instead repurposing existing structures.

We incorporate sustainable design into our own infrastructure around the world. For example:

• Over half of the power for the hospital that AKAH and partners have built in Bamyan, Afghanistan, is supplied by solar panels.


• AKFED’s Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge was Kenya’s first fully solar-powered hotel, with other Serena properties also achieving renewable energy independence. Find out more about AKDN’s use of solar power.


• AKAH is working with the HBL Microfinance Bank on its eco-friendly regional headquarters in Gilgit, Pakistan. The new building will use passive design measures to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 13 tonnes of CO2 per year.


• The Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) uses digital technology to enable patients to access care close to home, and for healthcare professionals to undertake remote learning. Health facilities are retrofitted for energy and water efficiency, collaborating with other institutions to improve waste management. Attention is paid to using less harmful anaesthetics and inhalers. Find out more.