Our Stories

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In Brazil, UNDP steps up CFC-elimination project

Brazil, a land of great beauty and even greater potential, is an economic engine of Latin America and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. But with this great potential comes an even greater danger, as the specter of climate change looms large on the horizon. In 1993, the United Nations more

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In Senegal, access to water 'life-transforming'

Kalla Niang, 12, is highly self-assured and energetic. She is busily preparing herself for high school, an opportunity that, until recently, would not have been available to her. Kalla lives in the village of Darou Ngaraf in northern Senegal. Like many girls in rural Senegal, Kalla and her sisters a more

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Lao villagers work together to build hydro power plant

In a remote village in northern Lao, Keupkku settles down to watch the evening news on his new color television. On the other side of the room, two of his daughters turn on the lights to continue their studies. Just a month ago this would have been impossible. But a newly installed 7.5 kilowatt hydr more

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Water project making life easier for Ekipe villagers

Until last year, residents of Ekipe village on North Efate Island in Vanuatu had no access to running water. Villagers like Marie, a mother of five, were forced to dig holes in the sand and wait for them to fill with fresh water. Doing so was time-consuming and rarely provided enough water for cooki more

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Burkina Faso boosts access to safe drinking water

An ambitious government effort to spread water resources more widely among Burkina Faso’s 15 million people has increased the proportion of the population that has access to water from nearly one fifth to two thirds in the last two decades.  Despite being a landlocked country and suffering the more

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Thousands get clean water in Sudan

Before the development of a new water reservoir in the El Ganaya district in southern Sudan, members of the Turab family, often the women, had to trek four hours just to collect enough water to survive. Some 40 percent of people living in the state do not have access to groundwater through wells or more

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Solar power changes families’ lives in Botswana

Until recently, the Mokgatlhe family in Kgope, a remote village situated 50 kilometres west of Botswana’s capital, had been using firewood to light and heat their home.  This practice, used by 80 percent of Botswana’s rural population, has led to the destruction of countless acres of forest.&nb more

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Communities help manage Turkey's national parks

Turkey is home to three globally recognized biodiversity hotspots and has a system of protected natural areas in place, but half its forests are considered degraded as a result of encroachment, overgrazing and illegal logging. Forests are among the most significant of Turkey’s ecosystems in terms of more

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Biomass fuel brings jobs and energy independence to Moldova

The kindergarten in the village of Ermoclia has declared its independence — energy independence, that is. Instead of struggling to keep students warm with expensive imported gas, the kindergarten now heats up with locally produced biomass fuels. It’s good for the children and the environment t more

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Afghanistan: New environmental councils spur development in provincial communities

Standing at the edge of Joe-e-Projey canal in the northern town of Char-i-Kar, Mohammad Tahir, a car mechanic, rues the fate of children who drink water from the local canal. “This canal has snuffed out many, many young lives. It is a bed of dirt and disease,” he says sadly, with moist eyes. The 70- more