Climatelinks Photo Gallery

As the largest province in Indonesia by area, Papua is endowed with a wealth of natural resources and incredible ecosystem diversity. USAID supports the Government of Indonesia to reduce greenhouse gasses while preserving livelihoods, including in Papua, that depend on nature and a healthy environment.

In 2019, Equal Exchange's local cooperative partners participated in a peer exchange in Peru to learn about organic fertilizer production as part of USAID's Cooperative Development Program. By choosing to produce organic fertilizer, the cooperatives plan to reduce greenhouse gases emitted by synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. Through USAID's Cooperative Development Program (CDP) which sits in the E3 Office of Local Sustainability*, Equal Exchange works to build the capacity of the small-scale farmers they source from across Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru by working to reduce barriers throughout the supply chain. Limited access to capital, lack of cooperative governance, unstable market prices, climate change and gender inequity, are some of the challenges these farmers plan to overcome with CDP support. Equal Exchange is a U.S. worker-owned company headquartered in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Equal Exchange sells a number of organic, fair trade products to specialty markets across North America and Europe. * Once the Bureau for Democracy, Development and Innovation (DDI) is established, the CDP will sit in the Local, Faith and Transformative Partnerships (LFT) Hub. ---- Location and date the photo was taken: Peru, 2019 Who is depicted in the photo: Cooperative members from Guatemala, Peru, Paraguay What activity is depicted in the photo: A cooperative-to-cooperative exchange to learn about producing organic fertilizer. How the activity addresses climate change: Organic fertilizer emits less greenhouses gases than synthetic options. Name of the relevant program receiving USAID support (via Global Climate Change or other funds): Cooperative Development Program Names of partner organizations involved in the program: For this story, Equal Exchange. Other implementing partners include Land O'Lakes Venture37, NCBA CLUSA, Genex, Frontier Co-op, World Council of Credit Unions, NRECA International, Global Communities, HealthPartners, and the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council (OCDC).

Kamala Magar is a poor farmer from Saripakha, Kaski District who depends on her small farm and community forest. Kalasha belongs to the Saripakha Multiple Use Water System (MUS) developed by the iDE with support from Montview Church, Denver USA. The Saripakha MUS provides piped water to 20 disadvantaged families for domestic use and vegetable production from a spring source located in the village’s community forest. The approach embeds environmental services with water fees paying a MUS manager to maintain the system and protect the community forest water source. The community has installed a fence and planted additional trees to protect the water source. Kamala is from a disadvantaged ethnic group, she produced vegetables using MUS water improving family nutrition, earning over $300/year, and collects fodder and wood from the community forest. The MUS also saves hours every day for primarily women and girls from carrying water. iDE with support from USAID, DFID, the EU, and others has developed 500 MUS serving 80,000 people; MUS enable farmers to cope with climate change by shifting from risky rainfed agriculture to piped irrigation. Photo by iDE Volunteer, Bimala Rai Colavito.

The Dhapreni Solar lift Multiple Use Water System (MUS) was developed by the iDE led, Anukulan project (2015-19) funded by the UKAID BRACED climate program in Dhapreni in the Kailali District hills. The Dhapreni MUS provides water to 24 disadvantaged families (101 people) for domestic use, vegetable production, and to irrigate orange trees from a spring source located in the village’s community forest. Dhapreni is a solar system (1.5 Kwp) lifting water 112m. The photo shows the drinking water and overflow irrigation tanks. The approach embeds environmental services with water fees paying a manager to maintain the system and protect the community forest water source. The community has installed a fence and protects the community forest. The community depends on orange production, in recent year’s drought has damaged orange production, the Solar MUS enables irrigation to cope with climate change. The MUS also enables the villagers to improve nutrition and income from vegetables, collect fodder and wood from the protected community forest, saves hours for women and girls from carrying water. (Photo by iDE Volunteer, Bimala Rai Colavito)

People enjoying ecosystem services from Gunung Leuser National Park, Aceh, Indonesia. The Park is one of the richest tropical rain-forests in Southeast Asia. It is the last place on earth where Sumatran orangutans, tigers, elephants, and rhinos and coexist in the wild. Through LESTARI project, USAID supports the Government of Indonesia to strengthen the management effectiveness of this protected areas.

Issyk lake in Almaty, located at the Ile-Alatau National Park 1714 m above sea level, called by the Kazakhs “Eshik” - “door, passage”. Indeed, the shortest route to the Issyk-Kul was through the gorge. "Issyk" means "hot spring" in the Kazakh language, turned out nonsense: Issyk lake cannot be called hot: water temperature - plus 9 degrees.

Community-led rehabilitation of land degraded by illegal alluvial gold mining in the Afro-Colombian Community Council of Chilona - El Salto, Zaragoza, Antioquia.

Chilona - El Salto Community Council in the municipality of Zaragoza, Antioquia (Colombia) is made up of Afro Colombian families, most of them female heads of household, who rehabilitated 170 hectares of land through nursery and tree planting.

Location and date the photo was taken: Municipality of Zaragoza, Antioquia (Colombia). The photograph was taken on September 2, 2019.

Who is depicted in the photo: The photo shows Afro Colombian women heads of household, who belong to the La Chilona - El Salto Community Council. They are pictured undertaking “planting days” in an area impacted by illegal gold mining.

What activity is depicted in the photo: Planting acacia seedlings.

How the activity addresses climate change: Zaragoza is one of the municipalities with the highest incidence of illegal gold mining in Antioquia and is also one of the most polluted and degraded. Acacia plantations have allowed the land to come back to life, changed the landscape of the region, and raised awareness of the importance of protecting nature.

Name of the relevant program receiving USAID support: The Artisanal Gold Mining Activity of USAID.

Names of partner organizations involved in the program: The Afro-Colombian Community Council of Chilona - El Salto, Zaragoza, Antioquia (Colombia) and the Artisanal Gold Mining Activity of USAID.

This picture depicts the start of agroforestry efforts in the village co-op in Mwambezi, Zambia (near Mbala). As part of the Feed the Future Initiative, the co-op ordered 100 lemon tree seedlings and a batch of 100 moringa tree seedlings. After growing to a sufficient size, the seedlings were planted around the village of Mwambezi.

Borneo, an island in Asia shared by Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, has experienced rapid deforestation in recent years. Driven by palm oil plantations, rubber plantations, and logging, many species are at risk of losing their habitats. This series of satellite images taken over the Central Kalamantan region of Indonesia, depict the rapid growth and movement of settlements from 2015 to 2019 and the increasing road network between what is likely a rubber plantation. Deforestation, a leading cause of human CO2 emissions, can lead to an increase in floods, forest fires, droughts and could have negative impacts on fresh water reservoirs and human health in this area. Mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and marine wildlife are all threatened by the increase in deforestation. In this series of photos, natural regeneration can be identified where large areas of deforestation had once occurred. Allowing deforested areas to regrow provides hope that deforestation on the island will slow and larger areas of forests will be protected. USAID plays a large role in helping Central Kalamantan protect their endangered species, especially the Orangutan, through the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF). This initiative has seen the rehabilitation of over 100 orangutans and their release back into this region, all with the support of USAID. USAID is also a partner of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) where climate challenges are tackled through the use of Earth observations and other techniques and informed decisions can be made through careful evaluation. These partnerships will allow for a more sustainable future on the island of Borneo.

Location and date the photo was taken: Amman-Jordan 23 July 2020 Who is depicted in the photo: Carob native seeds What activity is depicted in the photo: Native Carob seeds collected to be sown at one of the nurseries. How the activity addresses climate change: Carob is a native Jordanian tree and an important part of Jordan’s forests. Carob is usually grown for its edible pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens. The ripe, dried pod is often ground to carob powder, which is used to replace cocoa powder.The restoration of such forests helps mitigate climate change by storing carbon, halting land degradation and fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Additionally, it has an aesthetic side, can assist in poverty alleviation due to its economic return, and in fighting hunger and malnutrition due to its high-value nutritional content. Name of the relevant program receiving USAID support (via Global Climate Change or other funds): N/A Names of partner organizations involved in the program: Watershed and Development Initiative (WADI), Royal Botanic Garden (RBG), and United States Forest Service (USFS)

Location and date the photo was taken: Amman, 28 July 2020
Who is depicted in the photo: Thirteen-years old school Student “Dania Zawaidah”
What activity is depicted in the photo: Dania planting a Carob tree in Amman
How the activity addresses climate change: The Carob tree seedling was produced at the Royal Botanic Garden’s (RBG) nursery to restore Jordanian degraded land; such restoration with native trees using micro-harvesting techniques would help mitigate climate change by storing carbon, halting land degradation and fixing atmospheric Nitrogen. Additionally, it has an aesthetic side, can assist in poverty alleviation due to its economic return, and in fighting hunger and malnutrition due to its high-value nutritional content.
Name of the relevant program receiving USAID support (via Global Climate Change or other funds): N/A
Names of partner organizations involved in the program: Watershed and Development Initiative (WADI), RBG, and United States Forest Service (USFS)

Location and date the photo was taken: Royal Botanic Garden (RBG), Al-Balqaa Governorate, Jordan; 16 December 2019
Who is depicted in the photo: Karma Bouazza - Nursery Technical Expert (measuring the seedling’s height), and Sara Al-Faqir - WADI Intern (documenting measurements)
What activity is depicted in the photo: Monitoring and evaluation of the seedlings planted at the reference site being a research location to measure the effect of plant restoration on ground water recharge.
How the activity addresses climate change: The remote sensing system installed at the reference site in close cooperation with environmental experts from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and support from United States Forest Service (USFS) experts, will provide much-needed information on soil humidity that will help in elucidating possible restoration positive impact on Jordan’s critical water situation. Furthermore, obtained results can be used for scaling-up forest restoration conducted in the Tal Al-Rumman area to other parts of Jordan; this can help mitigate climate change impacts.
Name of the relevant program receiving USAID support (via Global Climate Change or other funds): N/A
Names of partner organizations involved in the program: Watershed and Development Initiative (WADI), RBG, ICARDA, and USFS

Across Liberia, people rely on the country's lush forests to survive. They hunt animals for meat. They clear trees to grow rice and other crops. Slowly, they're destroying what remains of the Upper Guinean forest region and its rich biodiversity.

And life isn't easy for Liberia's forest communities. Many struggle to feed their children. Their livelihoods are anything but stable.

Pact is addressing both problems with its signature WORTH program, which reduces poverty and empowers women through village banking and entrepreneurship. In Liberia, Pact is implementing WORTH with funding from USAID as part of the FIFES project. Through WORTH, Liberian forest communities are developing new, reliable livelihoods that don’t harm forests.

In groups of about 20, WORTH brings women together to save money, access credit and generate income. They make small savings deposits at weekly meetings, and when groups’ funds grow large enough, members may begin taking loans to start small businesses. Groups receive literacy, numeracy and business training.

For these women – and for their families, communities and forests – WORTH is making all the difference.

In this photo, Matilda Zuweh addresses her WORTH group.

"There was a time when we didn't know about saving or earning money. In the WORTH group, we learned about counting, interest and credit. I learned to buy food items in big amounts and sell them in the market here for a profit. This is my business. It is the first time I've had income of my own."

Photo taken Feb. 2017.

Across Liberia, people rely on the country's lush forests to survive. They hunt animals for meat. They clear trees to grow rice and other crops. Slowly, they're destroying what remains of the Upper Guinean forest region and its rich biodiversity.

And life isn't easy for Liberia's forest communities. Many struggle to feed their children. Their livelihoods are anything but stable.

Pact is addressing both problems with its signature WORTH program, which reduces poverty and empowers women through village banking and entrepreneurship. In Liberia, Pact is implementing WORTH with funding from USAID as part of the FIFES project. Through WORTH, Liberian forest communities are developing new, reliable livelihoods that don’t harm forests.

In groups of about 20, WORTH brings women together to save money, access credit and generate income. They make small savings deposits at weekly meetings, and when groups’ funds grow large enough, members may begin taking loans to start small businesses. Groups receive literacy, numeracy and business training.

For these women – and for their families, communities and forests – WORTH is making all the difference.

Here, WORTH member Wready Wehyee shows off her program guide book.

"We won't go back to the forest because WORTH and our books have helped us find something else. We have new ideas now, and we are all helping each other."

Photo taken Feb. 2017.

Linda Nyanway recording a poacher’s trail. Linda, now a community ecoguard, was once a school dropout with a bleak future. Now she is one of 11 women participating in the community ecoguard program put together by the USAID-funded West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA BiCC) Program through the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation and the Forestry Development Authority of Liberia. Through her activities as a community ecoguard, the Grebo-Krahn National Park in Liberia and its resources are being protected well enough to help mitigate climate change and to provide some resilience to the vulnerable people in her community. Through this new career, she has become the breadwinner of her family. Photo taken on October 17, 2019.

A Luoi district, Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. May 2019. The USAID Green Annamites Project supported Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces in Vietnam to reduce emissions and adopt green development strategies, by applying climate smart agricultural practices (CSA). The Project promotes establishing smart agricultural models that enhance the livelihoods of local communities and reduce emissions such as the application of the Integrated Crop Management (ICM) model on wet rice, vegetables and clean agriculture cultivation, restoration and development of local specialties such as Thanh Tra pomelo (Huong Van, TT Hue) and Ra Du rice (A Luoi, TT Hue). More than ten thousand people increased their income thanks to the sustainable agricultural models. The smart agricultural model created positive impact on the economic, social and environmental aspects while helped farmers to increase their productivity, income and adopt modern cultivation techniques to reduce production cost and increase their awareness on environmental protection.