On April 13 and 14, 2026, I had the opportunity to represent the Climate Action Program (PAC), implemented by LuxDev, at the TAOLA+ Network’s Annual Meeting, held in the city of Porto Inglês on the island of Maio. The meeting brought together civil society organizations, public institutions, and partners working on biodiversity and ecosystem conservation in Cabo Verde, providing an important forum for dialogue, learning, and institutional coordination.
The Program’s participation in this meeting proved particularly relevant, given the growing need to align the agendas of biodiversity conservation and climate action. In an island nation like Cabo Verde, the impacts of climate change directly affect ecosystems, coastal areas, and natural resources, making it increasingly clear that biodiversity protection and climate resilience must go hand in hand.
Over the course of the two-day event, participants attended sessions dedicated to marine conservation, sea turtle protection, and the sustainable management of natural resources. In addition to the technical aspects presented, the discussions provided a better understanding of the challenges faced by civil society organizations working on the ground and the important contribution they make to protecting ecosystems and raising awareness among communities.
From the perspective of the Climate Action Programme, the mission enabled the identification of concrete opportunities for collaboration with organisations in the TAOLA+ Network, particularly in areas relating to ecosystem-based adaptation, the management of protected areas and the promotion of resilience in local communities. These considerations are particularly relevant within the context of the Programme’s Annual Operational Plan (AOP), which provides for support to integrate climate action into the management frameworks for protected areas and biodiversity conservation.
Participation in the meeting also provided an opportunity to gather useful information on ongoing initiatives across the country’s various islands and to identify potential synergies that could help strengthen the integration of climate considerations into conservation projects and actions. It became clear that there is significant potential to develop more integrated approaches capable of generating simultaneous benefits for biodiversity, communities and climate action.
One of the things that struck me most during the meeting was the potential role that the TAOLA+ Network could play in the future Citizens’ and Climate Forum (FCC). The organisations that make up this network have extensive experience in community mobilisation, education, awareness-raising and local participation, and are present on virtually every island in the archipelago. This close connection with communities is a key asset for strengthening citizen participation in climate governance processes.
The experience accumulated by these organisations can contribute significantly to bringing citizens closer to national climate policies, ensuring that the concerns and needs of communities are duly taken into account in decision-making processes. In this regard, TAOLA+ could become a strategic partner for the FCC, helping to promote more inclusive, representative and locally-based participation.
The mission also helped to raise the profile of the Climate Action Programme amongst the key conservation stakeholders in Cabo Verde and to strengthen institutional relationships that may facilitate future partnerships. More than just institutional participation, the meeting provided an opportunity to build bridges between different agendas that share common objectives: protecting ecosystems, strengthening community resilience and promoting more participatory and effective climate action.
We return from this mission with a strengthened conviction that biodiversity conservation, citizen participation and climate action must be viewed as complementary components of a single sustainable development strategy. The TAOLA+ Network’s Annual Meeting demonstrated that there are organisations and partners in Cabo Verde with the experience, knowledge and willingness to contribute to this common goal, thereby strengthening the foundations for increasingly inclusive and participatory climate governance.
Nuno Ribeiro, Technical Assistant, Climate Action Programme