SUNCASA | Resilient Cities. Natural Solutions.
Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SUNCASA) is a 3-year project that aims to enhance resilience, gender equality, social inclusion, and biodiversity protection in urban communities in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and South Africa.
SUNCASA will benefit 2.2 million people living in high-flood-risk areas in Dire Dawa (Ethiopia), Kigali (Rwanda), and Johannesburg (South Africa). Funded by Global Affairs Canada through the Partnering for Climate program and delivered by IISD and the World Resources Institute, SUNCASA will be implemented in partnership with a wide array of local organizations.
The project’s gender-responsive NbS include the restoration and conservation of upstream watershed areas with agroforestry, afforestation, and reforestation, buffer zone creation, and urban tree planting.
Project Sites
Dire Dawa
SUNCASA will restore the Dechatu River catchment in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, reducing flood risk, erosion, and urban water stress, benefiting over 200,000 people.
Kigali
In Kigali, Rwanda, SUNCASA will restore micro-catchments in the lower Nyabarongo River watershed, mitigating flood risk, landslides, and soil erosion, improving the resilience of 975,000 people.
Johannesburg
SUNCASA in Johannesburg, South Africa, will restore the Jukskei River catchment through the removal of invasive alien species and tree planting initiatives, decreasing flooding and improving water security for 1.045 million people.
What's new
Year One of SUNCASA Progress: Lessons in Nature-Based Solutions
In its first year of implementation, the Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SUNCASA) project has delivered significant results, laying the foundation for scaling up gender-equitable and socially inclusive climate adaptation efforts in 2025 and 2026 in Dire Dawa (Ethiopia), Kigali (Rwanda), and Johannesburg (South Africa).
Challenging Gender Discriminatory Norms, Practices, and Beliefs in Sub-Saharan Africa
SUNCASA held a series of training sessions to support women and other underrepresented groups in overcoming the barriers preventing their access to natural resources and meaningful participation in nature-based solutions governance.
Kigali Shares Lessons on Flood Risk Reduction and Gender Equality With Other Sub-Saharan African Cities
KIGALI, RWANDA—Representatives from 14 organizations and city governments delivering the USD 21 million SUNCASA project will meet in Kigali this week to exchange experiences and insights on advancing nature-based solutions (NbS) for reducing flood and climate risk while improving the lives of women and vulnerable groups.
3 African Cities Restore Nature to Revitalize Their Rivers
Africa’s cities, from large metropolises to smaller towns, are increasingly characterized by growing urban sprawl. As cities and surrounding farmlands expand further into their hinterlands, they encroach upon watersheds essential to water supply and climate resilience.
The New Times | Becoming a city in the forest: Catalyzing Kigali’s climate resilience through nature
By 2026, SUNCASA aims to enhance the resilience of 975,000 Kigali residents while promoting gender equality, social inclusion, and biodiversity protection.
Mail & Guardian | Alexandra Water Warriors are reviving Joburg’s Jukskei River
As one of the city’s largest rivers, the Jukskei’s roughly 50km course inexorably marks it as a casualty of Johannesburg’s rapid urbanisation. Its deeply eroded waterways have long been a repository of the city’s sewage, stormwater, litter, industrial waste and building rubble. But through the work of the community-based Alexandra Water Warriors, the healing and restoration of the blighted river is under way. (Photo: Delwyn Verasamy| M&G)
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Project Partners
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