Climatelinks Photo Gallery

A singular boat moved through the thick forest and mangroves near a commonly used entry and exit point for fishermen. Mangrove and forest restoration has been a staple program across the Philippines.

The Women’s Empowerment Group approach is tied to the foundational principles of USAID’s Climate Change Strategy: Health and Gender, Equity, and Social Inclusion. Social and gender norms limit women’s access to healthcare and economic empowerment. Through the USAID-funded Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria Women’s Empowerment Groups, women from communities in Nigeria come together in a safe space to build their capacity and agency to practice healthy behaviors, engage in locally driven economic activities, and build confidence in decision-making, for household health and economic decisions, with their spouse. The Groups are local initiatives and use locally sourced foods and materials. In the context of climate change where women face even higher risks- the agency and capacity gained through the Women Empowerment Groups becomes even more critical.

Off the coast of the island of Cebu, a province of the Philippines, several people from the Indigenous Badjao tribe traded their wares with travelers. The Badjao people often fish, dive for pearls, and trade in these waters. 

Yinusa Halilu is one of the livestock feed sellers supported by the USAID funded Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity in Yola, Adamawa State. Yinusa added feed blocks to his offerings after attending RRA-facilitated training. The feed blocks are fed to cows to discourage open grazing, which is the major cause of farmer-herder clashes in Nigeria. The feed blocks can help to conserve grasses for dry season use and could easily replace open grazing during the dry season. This would help the pastoralist communities to adapt to the scarcity of grasses characterized by the dry season

As the water sensor flashes blue, a local end-user in Brits, Northwest province, South Africa, learns that it is time to turn off the sprinklers and start watering a different section of their orange orchard. The water sensor is part of Virtual Irrigation Academy’s soil moisture system. As climate change causes varied weather patterns and droughts, systems that monitor for soil moisture can help farmers reduce their water usage, understand crop needs, and improve food production. Virtual Irrigation Academy through their local South African partner, Rural Integrated Engineering, is an innovator supported by the Water and Energy for Food Grand Challenge Southern and Central Africa Regional Innovation Hub (S/CA RIH).

Digesters can do more than serve as a reliable energy source, they can also provide farmers with organic fertilizer. Gilbert, a local customer of Lanforce Energy in Beatrice, Zimbabwe, shared how using the company’s biodigester has increased his food production and improved the health of his soil. 

Digesters provide farmers with a method to dispose of animal waste while improving their food and energy security. By transforming animal waste into bioslurry and biogas, digesters are a key part of integrated manure management systems and are a solution for reducing methane emissions. 

In Beatrice, Zimbabwe, WE4F provides funding, technical assistance, and a grant to Lanforce Energy (the digester company) to help expand and scale their innovation. In Zimbabwe, deforestation for cooking fuel is a major problem so be scaling innovations like Lanforce Energy reduces the reliance on wood as cooking fuel. 

Water and Energy for Food (WE4F), a joint international initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union (EU), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), provides the farmers with financial aid and technical assistances to continue their work.

This community drama performance was used to share knowledge on environmental sanitation for the prevention of Yellow Fever in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Environmental sanitation helps to protect the environment and ensure that disease-causing organisms are kept at bay. Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria uses these types of performances to share crucial information about the need to keep the environment clean and the steps people should take to protect themselves from infectious diseases. 

Foreservicio S.A.S. is a company from El Bagre, Antioquia dedicated to providing environmental solutions such as reforestation of areas degraded by mining with trees native to the region.In addition, the company hires employees with hearing disabilities.

At a Mumba center in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, female entrepreneurs process sliced onions in solar dryers. A Mumba center is a produce collection site that is owned and operated by women, like the ones in this photo. Local collection and processing sites like the Mumba centers prevent women from having to work outdoors in the heat while providing them with a home-based economic opportunity. Additionally, the local collection centers prevent farmers from navigating storage, transportation, and logistic challenges. S4S Technologies is an innovator supported by the Water and Energy for Food Grand Challenge South and Southeast Asia Regional Innovation Hub (S/SEA RIH). S4S Technologies receives grants, technical assistance, investment facilitation, and enabling environment support through Water and Energy for Food, helping scale this innovation to reach and impact additional end-users. S4S technologies has received technical assistance for carbon credit registration and has started mapping their value chain greenhouse gas emissions to further reduce their footprint.

The Women Empowerment Group uses its meetings to help women improve maternal, child, and family health. One particular focus is how nutritious meals that utilize locally available foods can improve their overall health and wellbeing and protect the environment. 

A modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) bag at a local produce collection point in Chitwan, Nepal. This packaging helps reduce food spoilage and increases the quality of food making it to market. Less food waste means higher profits for farmers, traders, and cooperatives as well as a reduction in carbon emissions. The bags are provided by Mandala Agrifresh, an innovator supported by the Water and Energy for Food Grand Challenge South and Southeast Asia Regional Innovation Hub (S/SEA RIH). Mandala Agrifresh also provides solar-powered cold storage in Kathmandu, Nepal and trainings to farmer cooperatives on post-harvest technologies, crop diversification, and organic farming practices. 

Raptor Engineering provides Egyptian farmers with solar-powered irrigation, preventing the usage of diesel energy, and helps scale the technology to reach additional end-users. It is supported by the Water and Energy for Food Grand Challenge Middle East and North Africa Regional Innovation Hub (MENA RIH). 

A single flower blooms in an arid environment where most other plants have withered. 

People gather from different cultures, working together to fight climate change.

On World Pangolin Day, WABiLED in partnership with A Rocha Ghana raise awareness about the importance of pangolins along the Accra-Kumasi highway where they are often hunted for bush meat. Pangolins play a role in climate change mitigation through their impact on ecosystems, particularly in their role as seed dispersers and insect controllers. 

Engineer Rodana Al Dabbas supervising pipelaying of the water network in Ain Al Basha, Jordan. The pipelaying is part of USAID’s Management Engineering Services Contract II, which is working to increase water supply through the replacement of old water network components, improvement of water network management, installation of pressure management and monitoring systems, investments in high accuracy smart meters, and leak detection equipment. These interventions, in partnership with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, aim to strengthen Jordan’s ability to improve its water security, adapt to climate change, and meet the needs of the growing population.