Blog

Rivers are the world’s main source of clean drinking water, and their economic and environmental value are fundamental to the health of people and ecosystems. However, river basins face interrelated challenges — population growth, industrialization, urbanization, land use changes (including deforestation and land degradation), and changes in water quantity and quality.

• 07/17/2019
• Owen Scott, Fernanda Zermoglio

Finding ways to adapt to the effects of climate change is no longer optional for most communities - it is necessary. The question is, what are the range of strategies for adaptation? Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is a nature-based and people-centered approach that emphasizes ecosystem integrity as crucial for human resilience to climate change.

• 04/30/2019
• Anila Jacob, Jennifer Kane, Christine Chumbler

A new land cover tool originally developed for southeast Asia is now being expanded globally. “Land cover mapping in the Lower Mekong has been challenging in the past, based primarily on outdated maps using different criteria,” said Dr. David Saah, Professor at the University of San Francisco and Managing Principal of the Spatial Informatics Group (SIG).

• 04/10/2019
• Devrin Weiss, Leah Kucera

Gordon Mumbo grew up in the small village of Kamuga, in Kenya’s Kisumu County. Year after year, he watched as frequent floods from one of Kenya’s major rivers, the Nyando, disturbed the peaceful flow of village life.

• 03/28/2019
• Global Waters

Since the 1970s, the Sahel region of northern Africa has been experiencing ongoing drought. The ecological, economic and social impacts are far-reaching, and coastal and estuarine ecosystems have
not been spared.

• 03/14/2019
• CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry

In the districts of Mpigi, Rakai and Masaka in central Uganda, once-forested landscapes have been degraded by farming and illegal logging.

• 03/12/2019
• CIFOR

Ecosystems are fundamental to life on earth and provide goods and services that are essential to human well-being. This includes their role in helping human populations mitigate and adapt to climate change.

• 03/08/2019
• Mark Higgins

Northern Guatemala, together with neighboring Mexico and Belize, is home to the largest tropical forest north of the Amazon. Like many other tropical forests, the Selva Maya faces pressures from unsustainable logging and land clearing for agriculture.

• 02/07/2019
• Christine Chumbler

“Do your husbands object to your attending class?”

“No, no, no,” say the women.

“With a show of hands, how many of you are now earning money?”

Nearly everyone in class raises her hand.

• 02/05/2019
• Erin Hughes

To increase rural incomes and improve forest management at scale, community small scale logging and charcoal production come out on top.

• 10/30/2018
• David Miller

Can USAID work with the private sector to reduce the rate of deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)? Can this be done at a large scale to increase rural incomes equitably?

• 10/29/2018
• David Miller

To assist the Government of Malawi and its citizens, USAID/Malawi designed the Protecting Ecosystems and Restoring Forests in Malawi (PERFORM) project.

• 10/17/2018
• Ramzy Kanaan, Gina Althoff

To help bolster both community and ecological resilience, USAID’s Hariyo Ban (Green Forests) program was established in 2011 to work in two biodiverse landscapes in Nepal: Terai Arc and Chitwan-Annapuran.

• 03/05/2018
• Climatelinks

With collaboration between Winrock, the Government of Vietnam and the private sector, Vietnam’s payments for forest environmental services has the potential to be a model for other countries struggling to conserve forest areas — and a way to help people live more secure and prosperous lives.

• 02/28/2018
• Lauren Keller, Nga Dang