Climatelinks Photo Gallery

This photo was taken in June 2022 during the commissioning process of a mini-grid solar project on a remote island located in the Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar. Despite encountering numerous transportation and logistical challenges during the installation phase, 155 local households, who rely on fishing as their primary livelihood, now have access to reliable and sustainable energy for their daily needs. 
 

This photo was taken in July 2023, while Indigo Energy’s engineer was performing corrective maintenance at the Rice Mill after some damages were incurred after Cyclone Mocha severely impacted Rakhine State, Myanmar in May 2023. The three main activities of solar operation and maintenance include monitoring, preventative maintenance, and corrective maintenance. Monitoring involves real-time observation and data analysis, enabling early detection of performance deviations and potential issues within the solar power system. Preventative maintenance involves routine inspections, cleaning, and adjustments, which proactively address minor inefficiencies and prevent major breakdowns, ensuring the system operates optimally over time. In contrast, corrective maintenance comes into play when unexpected failures or damages occur, promptly restoring the system's functionality and minimizing downtime.

The cultivation of cocoa is contributing to the peace of Colombia since it is a legal crop that has displaced illicit ones. Cocoa is also a crop that conserves biodiversity, captures carbon, and, being an indigenous crop of the Amazon, keeps the soils healthy. José del Tránsito Blanquicet is an 82-year-old cocoa farmer. He has spent his entire life in the countryside, going through difficult times, such as when armed groups displaced him from his farm in Cáceres (Antioquia), Colombia. Today, José says that cocoa, in addition to being his hope, is his pension. José is supported by The Cacao Effect, a Global Development Alliance between USAID Colombia, Luker Chocolate, the Luker Foundation, Enel Colombia, the Saldarriaga Concha Foundation, EAFIT University, and IDH (The Sustainable Trade Initiative) that seeks to strengthen the cocoa production chain and contribute to improving the living conditions of producers and their communities, providing opportunities in four sub-regions of Colombia: Urabá, Bajo Cauca, Huila, and Tumaco.

This location was once 20-30 meters below the surface level of the Aral Sea. Now, it is a part of one of the world's newest deserts, the Aralkum. At the request of the Government of Kazakhstan, USAID launched the Environmental Restoration of the Aral Sea I (ERAS-I) Activity. The goal of the activity is to provide environmental restoration measures to improve the resilience of landscapes in the Northern Aral Sea zone. In 2021, site work began at the Oasis, which involved cutting 300 furrows, each 2.5 km in length, across 500 hectares of land. These furrows were created to collect clean sand and trap additional moisture, which, in turn, will create a suitable environment for saxaul and other shrub seeds to take root and grow. As of March 2023, the Activity has planted approximately 200,000 black saxaul seedlings.

As the Aral Sea shrank away and the ecosystem turned to desert, villages like Akespe, Kazakhstan were forced to adapt to the rapidly changing ecosystem. Unfortunately for Akespe and many others in the Aral District, the shifting sand dunes have consumed houses and villages. Many villagers have left in search of more favorable conditions for life and livelihood, yet a few have remained behind. USAID has launched the Environmental Restoration of the Aral Sea I (ERAS-I) Activity with the goal of providing environmental restoration measures to improve the resilience of landscapes in the Northern Aral Sea zone. The implementation of the ERAS-I Activity supports regional transboundary cooperation for water and the environment, and enhances resilience to climate change for vulnerable populations and ecosystems.

The Aral Sea disaster is one of the world's most notorious environmental problems. Formerly the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted for irrigation. By 1997, the Aral Sea had shrunk to 10 percent of its original size and by 2014 satellite images from NASA showed that the eastern basin of the Aral Sea had completely dried up. This region is now known as the Aralkum Desert, the world’s newest desert. An overwhelming majority of the dry sea bottom is heavily salinized and polluted with legacy agriculture runoff. As a result, local communities experience sand and dust storms for three months of the year, severely polluting the environment and impacting human health. At the request of the Government of Kazakhstan, USAID launched the Environmental Restoration of the Aral Sea I (ERAS-I) Activity. The goal of the activity is to provide environmental restoration measures to improve the resilience of landscapes in the Northern Aral Sea zone. The implementation of the ERAS-I Activity aims to introduce innovative measures to create an “Oasis” using black saxaul in the Northern Aral Sea zone, 50 km from the village of Karateren. The innovative methods–which include a research design to assess the optimal growth conditions for soil and watering–will create a stable ecological system with endemic species of flora and fauna.

The USAID Environmental Restoration of the Aral Sea I (ERAS-I) Activity took a large group of international delegates into the Aral Sea zone. The expedition into the dried seabed of the Aral Sea, followed by a high-level donor coordination conference, represented a unique opportunity to see and discuss firsthand the existing problems faced by both local bodies and international development partners. The expedition and conference goal was to exchange information and discuss the possibility of establishing a platform for the coordination of projects and initiatives related to the Aral Sea area of Kazakhstan. On the expedition, attendees received a comprehensive briefing on the saxaul planting methodologies, covering both mechanical and manual transplantation techniques; the use of hydrogel; and other pertinent information on saxaul cultivation in arid areas. As part of a commemorative ceremony, attendees planted saxaul bushes at the USAID afforestation site. Participants engaged in discussions concerning the challenges encountered when implementing projects in the Aral Sea region, and ways to overcome existing challenges when looking forward.

For the Maldives and many other island nations, the lack of space on islands and geographic distance between islands makes it very challenging to store and return waste to the local or global circular economy—resulting in plastic leakage into the ocean, which becomes a global problem. USAID Clean, Cities Blue Ocean’s local grantee, the Small Islands Geographic Society’s (SIGS) Sustainability Begins at Helping Our Marine Environment project worked with Hulhumalé residents to research and pilot the use of plastic alternatives, identifying the greatest areas of opportunity to reduce plastic usage. To promote their findings to a broader audience, SIGS launched a six-part docu-series that profiled the residents’ journey to reduce single-use plastics. The above photo was taken in February 2023 as part of the SIGS docu-series.

Since November 2021, USAID's Clean Cities, Blue Ocean–the Agency's flagship program to address ocean plastic pollution under the Save our Seas Initiative–has partnered with three coastal municipalities in Peru (Paita, Mancora, and Pisco) to support them in developing and launching Recicla recycling programs. The Recicla programs encourage households and businesses to segregate their waste, which is serviced door-to-door by recyclers' associations made up of organized, informal waste collectors. The first city to roll out the Recicla program was Pisco in September 2022; in its first six months, nearly 2,000 households and 200 businesses joined. This photo shows organized recycler association members collecting the segregated waste and preventing that waste from reaching local waterways, and eventually the ocean.

Historically, women cocoa farmers in Colombia have suffered from sexism and been relegated to housework. Today, a woman like Eugenia Jiménez (63 years old), with almost 5 acres of cocoa crop, shows that women can not only do farm work but can also be an example for younger women who have always sought role models. Eugenia understands the importance of conservation: on her farm, she grows cocoa, bananas, and tomatoes, and takes special care of the native tree species in the area. Eugenia is supported by The Cacao Effect, a Global Development Alliance between USAID/Colombia, Luker Chocolate, the Luker Foundation, Enel Colombia, the Saldarriaga Concha Foundation, AFIT University, and IDH (The Sustainable Trade Initiative), which seeks to strengthen the cocoa production chain and contribute to improving the living conditions of producers and their communities, providing opportunities in four sub-regions of Colombia: Urabá, Bajo Cauca, Huila, and Tumaco.

This image was taken in 2022 outside Phnom Penh City in S’ang Phnum village, Cambodia. Pictured are Mr. and Ms. Khor and their children and friends along with their new solar irrigation pump. Pteah Baitong program is supported by Water-Energy-4-Food Grand Challenge, which is a USAID-funded program that addresses climate change in emerging markets around the Global South. Pteah Baitong replaces farmers' gasoline and diesel pumps with solar versions. Every family saves on average 1 ton of CO2 emissions per year.

Informal waste collectors are the foundation of waste collection, sorting, and recycling–they are responsible for over half of all plastic waste collected and recycled globally. In Indonesia, USAID Clean Cities, Blue Ocean is supporting the government to reduce land-based sources of ocean plastic pollution through its national Solid Waste Management Platform. As part of this work, Clean Cities, Blue Ocean is also engaging informal waste collectors in the cities of Semarang, Makassar, and Ambon to pilot solutions to stop the flow of plastic pollution. This photo, taken in May 2023, shows an informal waste worker collecting trash at the Tamangapa disposal site in Makassar.

Most of the over 130 metric tons of waste generated per day in Samana Province, Dominican Republic is discarded in four open dumpsites and many informal dumping locations. The four dumpsites, like many locations around the world, are situated precariously close to delicate ecosystems, coastal communities, and town centers. USAID Clean Cities, Blue Ocean is providing technical support to the national government to clean up the open dumpsites and prevent further environmental damage. This photo was taken during the remediation effort at the Samana dumpsite in July 2022.

In the Philippines, women are leading the way in reducing plastic waste pollution by creating circular economies where waste is used and reused as a resource. This also offsets climate change-fueling emissions. Aling Socorro is one of the Aling Tinderas–waste collection network managed by women entrepreneurs in Manila City–supported by USAID Clean Cities, Blue Ocean through grantee the Plastic Credit Exchange. In 2022, she received a redesigned manual baler fit for her height and build, which enables her to compress the plastic bottles she buys back from the community, reducing the amount of plastic waste leaking into the environment. Part of USAID's gender empowerment strategy is to ensure women can participate in the workforce without added burden.

Henry Cuadrado and Edilma López are two cocoa farmers who have given everything for their crops. They have had to live with armed actors, survive droughts, and weather economic crises. Today, after years of effort, they can lean back to rest on top of their harvest. Henry and Edilma are supported by The Cacao Effect, a Global Development Alliance between USAID/Colombia, Luker Chocolate, the Luker Foundation, Enel Colombia, the Saldarriaga Concha Foundation, EAFIT University, and IDH (The Sustainable Trade Initiative) that seeks to strengthen the cocoa production chain and contribute to improving the living conditions of producers and their communities, providing opportunities in four sub-regions of Colombia: Urabá, Bajo Cauca, Huila, and Tumaco.

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.