Climatelinks Photo Gallery

A group of students takes part in a plantation campaign organized by WWF Pakistan to encourage young minds for a green planet. This campaign had no support from USAID nor was linked to any other organization. This picture was shot on 2nd May 2019 in a local village near Vehari, Punjab, Pakistan.

Students from St. Scholastica Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya, presenting their findings on relating varying weather patterns to malaria occurrences from mosquito habitat mapping within Lake Victoria region in Kenya during SERVIR East and Southern Africa 2019 Space Challenge for Primary and Secondary Schools.

Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic. September 11, 2018.

This image describes the educational activities for development of capacities in adaptation strategies and flood prevention in the Las Terrenas River by the Fundación REDDOM under the Climate Risk Reduction Program. With these actions we can support the reduction of flood risks in urban areas near the riverbank.

Palabek Refugee Settlement, Northern Uganda. Incorporating the Resilience Design and Permagarden methodologies of the USAID TOPS/SCALE program. July 24, 2019.

Working with refugees to map the flow of water and nutrients across the landscape in Palabek refugee settlement. This participatory exercise is part of African Women Rising’s permagarden program that proactively trains refugees to mitigate flooding and drought by understanding the way heavy rainfall, sunshine, and the slope of the land all can negatively affect the landscape. Focusing on the basic principles of water and soil biology and using a design framework to help farmers capture rainwater and enrich the soil using local materials such as manure, wood ash, tree leaves and charcoal dust. It’s a process of learning and using guiding principles to design the best set of interventions possible.

For more information: https://www.africanwomenrising.org/about-us/agriculture/

The U.S. Forest Service International Programs, supported by USAID’s Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, awards annual scholarships to promising government officials who complete Forest and Environmental Management Master's programs to improve capacity within environmental ministries across the region. Scholarship recipients traveled from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and São Tomé & Príncipe for a two-day networking event in Brazzaville in December 2017, where current students and program alumni had the opportunity to share their areas of expertise with U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo Todd Haskell. Training the next generation of professionals in the environmental sector is an essential step in helping countries develop sustainable economies as well as find ways to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.

This picture was taken by Marie Therese Imanishimwe, an employee of Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Weze on June 30, 2019, in Nyabihu District in Northern Rwanda. It features a group of farmers supported by Hinga Weze, a five-year $32.6 million USAID-funded project (2017-2022) that aims to sustainably increase smallholder farmers’ income, improve the nutritional status of women and children, and increase the resilience of Rwanda’s agricultural and food systems to a changing climate. Hinga Weze works to empower over 530,000 smallholder farmers across 10 districts.

These farmers are being coached on proper spacing of crops as part of the package of good agricultural practices given to farmers in order to improve crop productivity.

The U.S. Forest Service International Programs, through USAID’s Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, is working in Central Africa to train communities on improved fire management. Uncontrolled fires pose a huge threat to Central African forests and can cause large releases of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere when burned, further exacerbating the effects of climate change. However, fire within forest-savannah mosaic landscapes in the Congo Basin can be both a management tool as well as a threat. If used in a sustainable manner, fire can help maintain pastureland and protect forests, farms, plantations, and villages. If used haphazardly, intentional and accidental fires can burn out of control, impacting large areas and threatening villages, farms, and forests. Here, during a trailing in May 2017, a local “fire brigade” is trained in how to control and suppress fire so that they can better deal with uncontrolled fires in their communities.

Employees of the Central African Satellite Forest Observatory (OSFAC), a regional remote sensing NGO, complete exercises during a training on analyzing LIDAR data to estimate biomass carbon in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in October 2017. This training, held in Kinshasa, hosted by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs, and supported by USAID’S Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, is part of a larger effort to support governments, universities, and non-governmental organizations in Central African countries to develop and implement sustainable forest management approaches. The Democratic Republic of the Congo covers over 900,000 square miles and contains 60 percent of the Congo Basin’s forests, the second-largest tropical forest in the world after the Amazon. While there are many initiatives being put in place to sustainably manage these forests, the ability of national and regional actors to map and monitor them is an essential step in identifying critically threatened areas and developing effective resource management solutions to combat climate change.

Basil Mpati, second on the left, works with the National Center for Forest Inventory and Zoning in the Republic of the Congo (CNIAF) and teaches workshop participants how to identify peat soils versus mineral soils in Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo (January 2018). This training, held by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and the FAO and supported by USAID’s Central Africa Program for the Environment and the SilvaCarbon program, was an opportunity for technicians from the DRC Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development's Department of Forest Inventory and Zoning to learn about inventory sampling methods in peat forests so that they will be able to more accurately calculate how much carbon is currently stored in the country's forests. The Democratic Republic of Congo covers over 900,000 square miles and contains 60 percent of the Congo Basin’s forests, the second-largest tropical forest in the world after the Amazon. While there are many initiatives being put in place to sustainably manage these forests, the ability of national and regional actors to map and monitor them is an essential step in identifying critically threatened areas and developing effective resource management solutions to combat climate change.

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; April 2018

Edna, ZEN II Beneficiary and Lead Farmer in her community, is showing ADRA the additional chickens she has now, thanks to the ones she was originally enabled to purchase with her vouchers during the DiNER Fair. While the chickens do not directly affect climate change, Edna was trained in climate smart techniques for farming in this area and, as a Lead Farmer, she was responsible for passing that knowledge on to other farmers in her community.

Relevant Program receiving USAID support: Zimbabwe El Nino South Project (ZEN II)
Partner Organizations: Catholic Relief Services (CRS)--they were the prime. Caritas was another sub like ADRA.
Photo Credit: Helena Souders, ADRA

In Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, USAID through its Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience (Adaptasi Perubahan Iklim dan Ketangguhan - APIK) project, along with the Local Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and the Education Agency conducted an initial vulnerability assessment on schools. After a field survey, two elementary schools in West Kendari, Elementary School 6 and 8, were identified as being prone to flooding. In response, USAID APIK conducted a series of training activities from April to early May 2017 on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, held workshops on participatory disaster risk assessment, and established Disaster Preparedness Units for the schools. USAID APIK helped formulate standard operating procedures, established evacuation routes, disseminated maps, and installed evacuation route signs, which ensure that all students know what to do before, during, and after disaster strikes. Evacuation drills that included local stakeholders such as the Transportation Agency and the Community Health Center were also conducted at both schools on May 18, 2017. Almost 500 students participated in the evacuation drill.

May 18, 2017.

IOM staff member Maylia Rudolph facilitates a workshop on climate change awareness and disaster preparedness for school students attending Marshall Islands Christian School, Rongrong, Republic of the Marshall Islands in early 2017.

As part of the USAID-funded CADRE + program, IOM regularly conducts workshops and information sessions assisting Marshallese school students to better understand the ways in which climate change can produce hazards in their communities. In these workshops, IOM staff are able to educate students about climate change adaptation and disaster risk management strategies to enhance the resilience of Marshallese youth and their wider communities.

Through the CADRE + program, IOM has distributed educational materials such as storybooks, involved school students in public awareness campaigns and conducted focus group discussions in which Marshallese youth are able to share their attitudes towards climate change and what it means for their homeland. (Photo credit: Muse Mohhamed, IOM 2017).

Youth aged 14 to 25 learned about the effects of climate change, ways to mitigate the risk, and how they can raise awareness in their communities through the USAID-funded Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystems Adapting to Climate Change project in 2018. The project provided climate change training to 2,146 youth and more than 147,000 trees were planted in a forest reserve.

U.S. Forest Service expert Karis Tenneson (standing) helps members of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD)’s Department of Forest Inventory and Zoning (DIAF) and employees of the Central African Satellite Forest Observatory (OSFAC) to complete exercises during a training on using the SEPAL platform to detect forest cover change. This training, held in Kinshasa, was hosted by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and supported by USAID’S Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, and is part of a larger effort to support governments, universities, and non-governmental organizations in Central African countries to develop and implement sustainable forest management approaches. The Democratic Republic of Congo covers over 900,000 square miles and contains 60 percent of the Congo Basin’s forests, the second-largest tropical forest in the world after the Amazon. While there are many initiatives being put in place to sustainably manage these forests, the ability of national and regional actors to map and monitor them is an essential step in identifying critically threatened areas and developing effective resource management solutions to combat climate change.

Trees for the Future technicians and trainers undergo a weeklong Training of Trainers seminar before teaching farmers how to plant themselves out of hunger and poverty. The educational seminar focuses on the science of agroforestry and permaculture as well as how best to work with farming groups in a productive and effective way. Shirima (pictured) and the other technicians spend time learning theory and hands-on skills. By educating the trainers, Trees for the Future ensures that farmers receive the best education as well.

In 2017, an elementary school teacher in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, utilizes the climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (CCA / DRR) curriculum in classroom, educating her students on how to recognize signs of natural disasters common to the region.

The USAID-funded CADRE + program aims to increase climate change awareness and adaptation practices to build the resilience of vulnerable communities in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia. At a school level, the IOM designed (CCA/DRR) curriculum has now been endorsed by the Department of Education at national and state level and is being taught in many schools across the region. Photo credit: Muse Mohhamed, IOM, 2017.