Our Stories

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Kazakhstan: Preserving wetlands boosts the economy

For years, Valentina Zhakupbekova’s family depended upon illegal poaching for its survival in Kazakhstan’s vast wetlands, thousands of square kilometres of rich soil and abundant lakes, caviar-bearing fish, unique birds and aquatic flora. “My husband had no employment, the fish he caught in the lak more

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Nepal: Bamboo keeps villagers dry

“When my village floods, which it does almost annually, we never know how bad it will get. Some people lose their whole house, most will lose some crops and everyone will be affected in some way,” says 32 year-old Ms. Sita Gaire, of Shivamandir village in Southern Nepal. Mother of two Gaire lives i more

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In Nigeria, farm training yields fuller harvests for rural women

For Mama Nsedu, a young widow in Northern Nigeria, feeding her family was becoming harder every day. Like thousands of women in the rural communities of Nanka, Kyado and Yauri, Mama Nsedu faced poor crop yields due to harsh, dry weather, low rainfall, poor soil nutrients and overdependence on expens more

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Locals learn the benefits of environmental protection in Thailand

Over the last several decades, Thailand has seen remarkable economic growth, but at a high social and environmental cost. Rising consumption, industrialization and the intensification of agriculture have placed enormous strain on natural resources. As a result, communities who rely mostly on farming more

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Tajikistan: Putting environmental resources in local hands

Tajikistan’s Vakhsh River valley is crucial to the livelihoods and food security of millions of people, but the degradation of natural resources has been persistent and extensive over the past 100 years. The tugai forests, reservoirs of biodiversity and source of income for local communities, have b more

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Farming communities in India improve soil fertility and earn higher income

High school drop-out Atula, a woman farmer from India’s northeastern state of Nagaland, is today an expert on improving crop cultivation and soil fertility, two subjects that come in handy as she works the small piece of land she has leased from a local landowner. For generations Atula’s family and more

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New techniques help farmers adapt to climate change in Sudan

Ahmed Eldaw, like his fellow farmers and pastoralists in northern Sudan, used to practice a form of subsistence agriculture that depended solely on the erratic floods of the Atbara River. During periods of exceptionally high flooding, he could expect to grow enough sorghum to provide for his family more

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Lao PDR: Diversifying crops to cope with climate change

For Ki Her, the head of Kioutaloun village in mountainous northern Lao PDR, and 95 percent of the population who grow rice, the change in the weather over the past five years presents significant challenges. With shorter but more intense rainy seasons, followed by longer dry seasons, farmers are st more

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Reviving rare mangroves in Senegal

A few kilometres outside of Saint-Louis, the capital city of the Saint-Louis Region in northern Senegal, there is a strip of land covered with the northernmost stand of mangroves in all of western Africa. The stand is genetically isolated, making its preservation an urgent matter for both the people more

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Building a brighter future for rice farmers in Cambodia

Farmers in the small community of Tuol Sdey, in the Svay Rieng province of southeastern Cambodia, have reason to be happy.  For the first time in decades they can rejoice in having two harvests in one season. This is largely due to the construction of a new water dam which stores rain in a near more