Our Stories

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Moving towards self-sufficiency in Madagascar

A Madagascar-based civil society organization, Association Anja Miray runs a community forest reserve, using ecotourism to create jobs and fund basic social infrastructure such as schools, health clinics and environmental education centers. "Prior to our initiative, this vast territory was clea more

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Solar power provides sustainability to Croatian village

“The milk that we produce, we cannot sell,” says Mileva Desnica, who lives in the small village of Ajderovac in Croatia. “We don’t have electricity for a refrigerator, so we can only store food in the cold room for a day or two at most.” The municipality of Gračac where the village is located was cu more

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Burundi: Reclaiming forest reserve while improving livelihoods

During Burundi’s civil war, thousands of people sought refuge in the Kibira forest reserve near the capital Bujumbura. But since the war ended in 2002, damage to the forest has been exacerbated as internally displaced persons and nearby communities cut down trees to clear land for farming, and use t more

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Nigeria: Sawdust recycling creates jobs while cleaning up city

For environmentalist Leslie Adogame in Lagos, Nigeria, his daily commute past large sawdust piles from the local timber factories got him thinking - how to clean up the waste and create jobs at the same time? “After brooding over it for a while, I decided that I had to do something to stop the burni more

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Recycling boosts incomes in Rwanda's capital

By Nausicaa Habimana Kantengwa For Edith, Eugénie and Vestine, three women in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, life has taken a turn for the better since joining a local association that helps get vulnerable people off the street and earning an income, while cleaning up the city. The three are among 200 me more

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India: Conserving the Gulf of Mannar’s biodiversity

The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve, off the south eastern coast of India, is home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of marine species. Much of the Reserve’s biodiversity depends on the coral reef, which houses numerous species of fish and supports the livelihoods of close to 150,000 fis more

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Biodiversity projects improve lives in China

Yu Zerun, a farmer from Daping village in the Sichuan province, Western China, used to harvest rare medicinal plants in protected areas of the Upper Yangtze River Basin, an area internationally recognized for its biodiversity value. The caterpillar fungus Yu Zerun traded at the local market provided more

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Peru: Improving cook stoves and access to energy

by James Leslie Cooking on a wood fire has always required a great deal of effort for 48-year-old Pilar Valladolid. She is supported in this duty by her 8-year-old daughter, Pamela. Together they have to walk more than an hour to collect the firewood they will use to cook with during the coming days more

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Thousands get clean water in Sudan

Before the development of a new water reservoir in the El Ganaya district of South 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 bor more

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Tanzania: Clay stoves make life easier for rural women

Until January of this year, Stella Fungameza – a 30-year-old mother of three children –wandered into the forest twice a week for 12 hours, bringing home up to 30 kilograms of firewood from each her trips. Now Stella can cook with half the amount of firewood thanks to an energy project piloted by the more