Climatelinks Photo Gallery

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.

In 2017, a young boy from Shikharpur, Nepal plays on the roof of his house, where a solar panel has been installed to provide his family with renewable electricity. As the effects of climate change on natural resources become more and more detrimental, renewable sources of energy are necessary to ensure climate change resilience in Nepal’s most vulnerable regions. Building Climate Resilience of Watersheds in Mountain Eco-Regions (BCRWME) is the first component of Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR) of Nepal. The project is carried out by IWMI, along with ADB, the Nordic Development Fund, and the Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management.

A Maasai man starts a fire from the friction created by rubbing two sticks together– a traditional method that has kept the pastoralist Maasai people warm and well-fed for several centuries. As climate change threatens the Serengeti ecosystem that nourishes their cattle, so too is their rangeland decreasing from increased agriculture, wildlife preserves, and stricter land rights. The growing number of tourists and a waning nomadic lifestyle for many Maasai people presents an opportunity to share perspectives in a rapidly evolving world. Tourists are likely to learn about the threats to Maasai culture as they interact with them on their way to nearby national parks. While the future of the Maasai is uncertain, the ability for them to tell their story is stronger than ever. Sharing skills like fire making allows tourists to have more than just a window to others' lives; understanding similarities to Maasai families enables them to connect the dots on the collective fabric that defines us as we adapt to a changing climate.

An eco-guard walks along a newly renovated trail and bridge in Kahuzi Biega National Park in May 2018. The U.S. Forest Service International Programs, in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society and supported by USAID’s Central Africa Program for the Environment, is working with Kahuzi Biega National Park to improve and expand tourist hiking trails as well as work with nearby communities to maintain newly rehabilitated trails. Building capacity of national park staff and local communities not only improves visitor experience and creates economic opportunities for neighboring communities, but also puts the park on track for long-term financial stability, an essential step in the long-term protection of these landscapes, and the preservation of the forests within them.

A man harvests water lilies from a Community Fish Refuge in Pursat, Cambodia. The Feed the Future Cambodia Rice Field Fisheries II is supporting 140 communities in rural Cambodia to improve and manage local Community Fish Refuges to provide improved habitat and protection for valuable wild fish populations, and to provide water for many other uses, particularly in seasonal and unseasonable dry periods. Well-managed fish refuges led to a 71% increase in fish catch by the poorest households, strengthening food and nutrition security. Photo credit:

Hot springs in the Uyuni salt flats.

All over the world women are excelling in roles that were previously reserved for men. Living proof of this paradigm shift can be found in Liberia, where more and more women are training to be Community Ecoguards, a position that has traditionally been male-dominated at Grebo-Krahn National Park. These are two newly recruited female Community Ecoguards, Felecia Kyne (left) and Mathaline Garley (right), improve their GPS skills during their first field mission in Grebo-Krahn National Park in April 2018. The active participation of women in the Ecoguard Program, run by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation and the Forestry Development Authority with support from the USAID funded West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change program, is protecting one of the biggest tropical rainforests in the world thus promoting carbon sequestration and storage.

Children are often most vulnerable to climate impacts. Parents and their children may face increasing risks over time. These impacts include extreme weather events and climate-related malnutrition, increases in the prevalence of malaria and other diseases, water and sanitation problems, and air pollution. Inhaca Island, Mozambique. October 31, 2014.

Lake Arenal Hydropower Plant, Costa Rica, October 2014. Costa Rica runs on renewable energy for an average of 300 days a year, largely thanks to hydropower generated in stations like this one. Costa Rica’s proactive environmental policies are the reason it is considered a strong example of sustainable development around the world. However, much of Costa Rica's environmental development was not well regulated as it was undertaken, and numerous problems persist.

Flamingos drinking water at a lake in the Uyuni salt flats.

Western parts of Rwanda has very steep hill sides prone to soil erosion and severe soil degradation. Climate Change is expected to result in increase in extreme events is likely to affect the heavily populated, denuded, steep hillsides much more than other areas. A Feed the Future project called Hinga Weze is promoting radical terracing and planting Agroforestry trees to were planted to provide wood for fuel and fodder for livestock/social protection while avoiding deforestation and improving food security. This has multiple additional benefits, namely reduced soil erosion and increased resilience to heavy rains through improved slope stability; water management and nutrient recycling which improve agricultural production and carbon sequestration.

This picture was taken behalf of Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Weze by Herve Irankunda, February 2, 2019, in Ngororero District in Southwestern Rwanda. It features a woman on a terraced hillside constructed 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.

This woman is pictured tending to her Irish potato plot where she was mobilized together with fellow cooperative members to construct the terraces in order to curb soil erosion and floods that were washing away top fertile soils hence reduce productivity around this hilly parts of Rwanda. The farmers, including women, are now able to double their produce from the same plot of land and are gaining more income. Working with districts, Hinga Weze plans to construct about 2,000 of progressive and radical terraces.

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.

Subject: Lawal Omowumi
Location: Gbamu Gbamu, Nigeria
Date: November, 2017

Less than half of Nigeria’s 186 million people have access to electricity. But in the rural village of Gbamu Gbamu, newly installed utility poles and wires act as markers of a brighter future, powered by a new solar minigrid. The grid, an effort of local developers Rubitec Solar and Winrock’s USAID-funded Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Project (REEEP), is empowering citizens and their enterprises, providing them with a better quality of life and more stable sources of income. Lawal Omowumi, pictured above, has ample time to show off the yield from the cocoa dryer she operates. But while Omowumi is eager to reap business benefits, she is equally excited for the changes the minigrid will bring to Nigeria’s hot nights. “Normally, villagers sleep outside. But when there is light [meaning solar power] in the midnight they will have fans and sleep there,” she says, pointing to the interior of a nearby home. “They sleep inside and enjoy themselves.”

Terraced rice production is a climate adaption tool. It reduces the velocity of water runoff and the resulting soil erosion by reducing the length of sloped land surfaces. This helps protect the soil from moderate flood risks. It can also trap and hold rainwater to make it feasible to cultivate water-intensive crops (such as rice). The flatter areas of land increase the ability to retain and absorb water if the soil is sufficiently permeable. However, it is labor intensive to construct and maintain the terraces.

November 30, 2018.

This is a local community managed activity that provides a financial incentive for protecting the Baobab village forest lands and their biodiversity, including endemic bird species. Visitors pay a fee to see the forest with local guides, who have been trained to identify the birds found in the forest.

December 7, 2018.