In March 2018, the Kiribati Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development (MELAD), the Pacific Community (SPC), and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) hosted the inception meeting for the GEF funded “Ridge to Reef: Testing the integration of Water, Land, Forests & Coastal Management to Preserve Ecosystem Services, Store Carbon, Improve Carbon Resilience and Sustain Livelihoods in the Pacific” (R2R) regional project. 
The GEF funded project, headed by MELAD as the National Lead Agency and SPC as the Regional Executing Agency, will take on different challenges in each participant country – Cook Islands, FSM, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, PNG, RMI, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu – relating to biodiversity, land degradation, international waters, sustainable forest management and climate change.
In Kiribati, the focus of the demonstration project will be piggery waste management. SPC and GGGI presented an overview of the regional and overall aspects the R2R Program while the MELAD technical team provided specific information on the R2R demonstration project for Kiribati; both teams offered guidance to working groups in support of program activities.
The meeting was attended by government officers from the Ministry of Women, Youth and Social Affairs (MWYS), Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the Ministry of Environment Lands and Agriculture Development (MELAD). The purpose of the meeting was to garner support from stakeholder ministries and request inputs and suggestions from participants to ensure the success of the initiative.
About R2R: R2R is a Global Environment Facility (GEF) global test case and programmatic initiative involving multiple United Nations, Regional and National agencies, and Pacific Small Island Developing States (PacSIDS) to support and address national priorities and development needs while delivering global environmental benefits in line with GEF focal area strategies – Biodiversity, Land Degradation, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, International Waters and Sustainable Forest Management.