Climatelinks Photo Gallery

An agricultural worker from Cooperation Without Borders (CWB), local NGO in the Beqaa region of Lebanon, inspects the quality of seedlings. USAID's Community Support Program expanded the NGO’s seedling production capacity by providing it with an additional greenhouse, climate-controlled germination room, and germination machine to sustain heating and cooling systems. CWB provides organic vegetables and aromatic seedlings at low prices to local farmers amidst high inflation and the country’s ongoing socio-economic crisis. Agriculture in Lebanon is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change due to the limited availability of water and land resources and the pressure exerted by population growth and urbanization. These challenges have placed increasing financial strain on local farmers as they struggle to purchase crop seedlings and sustain their livelihoods; it also led to an electricity crisis that decreased state provision to around 2 hours per day, hindering CWB’s operational capacity to produce enough seedlings.

In response, USAID’s Community Support Program expanded CWB’s operations by providing it with a greenhouse, a climate-controlled germination room, and a germination machine to ensure continuous power supply to CWB’s seedling nurseries and sustain their heating and cooling systems. This solution is ensuring seedling climate control amidst climate change and is expected to increase CWB’s annual production to around 20 million higher-quality seedlings, which will enhance the livelihoods of local farmers by decreasing their production costs by more than 40 percent.

Firefighters participate in a fire drill training after the USAID Community Support Program (CSP) equipped the area’s fire truck with needed fire prevention equipment. The Jurd el Qaitea Union of Municipalities (UoM) serves 15 villages in Akkar, North Lebanon. Due to climate change, the area is experiencing increased, recurring wildfires that are destroying the local forest, putting residents’ lives at risk, and reducing eco-tourism in the area, which has severely impacted local economic opportunities. As such, the UoM purchased a fire truck to facilitate firefighters’ access to remote locations, but, amidst the country’s economic crisis, they were unable to equip it with the necessary gear to make it fully effective. In response, USAID CSP equipped the truck with all the needed equipment to ensure fire prevention and firefighter safety. These included water pumps and thrusters, fire-resistant water hoses and protective garments, extinguishers, air pressure tanks, and handheld transceivers to facilitate communication and coordination within the firefighter team during response operations. In parallel, CSP organized fire drill training on the use of the equipment and helped to improve the coordination between firefighting stakeholders in the region, which has contributed to a 97 percent decrease in forest fires.

A USAID Community Support Program (CSP) worker installs environmentally friendly LED streetlights in damaged neighborhoods around the Beirut Port blast area in Lebanon. In the aftermath of the Beirut Port explosion, USAID CSP rehabilitated damaged streetlights in affected neighborhoods and installed 500 LED lightbulbs, replacing previous high-energy consumption bulbs. This intervention is drastically decreasing fuel consumption and enhancing safety and security for an estimated 56,400 residents and local businesses.

USAID Community Support Program (CSP) engineers inspect the photovoltaic solar farm CSP installed to enhance electricity provision to more than 8,700 residents in Lebanon. Hasbaiya residents have been grappling with lengthy power outages amidst the economic crisis, and the municipality was forced to rely on backup generators to supply household electricity. However, the crisis limited the municipality’s ability to afford maintenance and fuel costs. In response, USAID CSP hybridized Hasbaiya’s backup electricity infrastructure by installing a photovoltaic solar farm and equipping it with necessary structures and electro-mechanical systems to ensure safe and environmentally compliant operations. Since its operation, the solar farm led to accumulated municipal savings of $20,000, which the municipality will use to fund an additional solar farm to benefit more residential areas.

A farmer uses a USAID Community Support Program (CSP)-provided solar-powered mobile welding station to repair irrigation lines, minimize water losses, and maintain livelihoods amidst ongoing economic crises in Lebanon. Ainata el Arz is an agricultural village in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. Known for its cultivation of apples, cherries, apricots, and vine leaves, the village established a cooperative to improve farming practices and enhance local economic opportunities. However, located at 1,500m altitude, the village regularly faces harsh weather conditions, threatening local crops and placing significant importance on timely cultivation. Furthermore, amidst the economic crisis in Lebanon, farmers have been facing rising costs of production coupled with diminished incomes. To support farmers’ livelihoods, USAID CSP provided the cooperative with needed agricultural equipment and a solar-powered welding station to repair irrigation lines through the innovative use of clean energy.

Female workers and farmers handle crops in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon to produce high quality sustainable pepper paste, rose jam, and other indigenous products. All of the farmers are either women at risk or part of the LGBTQIA+ community in a country where both communities face oppression.