Climatelinks Photo Gallery

Maya Rana is a small farmer in B-Gaun, Banke district, trained to utilize safe Integrated Pest Management (IPM) developed by the USAID IPM Innovation Lab (IPM-IL, 2015-21), led by Virginia Tech and iDE managed in Nepal. Climate change has made disease and pest problems worse. Nepal has been impacted by invasive pests including the Tuta Absoluta and Fall Armyworm. Tuta is a devastating tomato pest that arrived in Nepal in 2016. The IPM-IL developed an effective, safe IPM based Tuta package with the agricultural research system. Maya is checking a Wota-T trap to monitor for Tuta moths and uses safe bio-pesticides (Neem and BT) to control outbreaks. Maya also demonstrated a bamboo net house to grow tomatoes designed by the IPM-IL to exclude Tuta. In the last year, Maya earned over $8,000, including $1,800 from tomatoes using the IPM technologies. Maya uses many IPM-IL verified technologies including Trichoderma, pheromone traps, bio-pesticides, coco peat clean medium for nurseries, drip (for resilience), insect netting, and more. The IPM-IL is working with USAID Nepal FTF projects, the private sector, and the government’s agricultural research and extension system to scale adoption of IPM based crop packages to cope with climate impacts.

USAID has partnered with the Government of Malawi, first to assess landscape restoration opportunities, then to develop a cross-sectoral strategy to achieve landscape restoration. Now, through the Modern Cooking for Healthy Forests Project co-funded by USAID and FCDO, the Government of Malawi is implementing landscape restoration and monitoring progress towards Malawi’s ambitious commitment to the Bonn Challenge and AFR100 to restore 4.5 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

This picture shows a plantation in the Viphya Forest Reserve, established by Consolidated Processing Industries, with funding from USAID. The trees seen are 2.5 years old and are thriving.  These trees, together with the larger Viphya Forest Reserve, provide employment for Malawians and essential water for residents of Mzuzu City and surrounding areas.  The Forest Reserve itself is also source of rivers that flow into Lake Malawi which helps to sustain fisheries and livelihoods along the Lake. 

This photo was taken on June 30th, 2021 in the Afro Colombian community council of Curvaradó.

In the photo appear three leaders of community councils: Apartadó, Curvaradó, and Bocas del Chicao. These are people from the community as well as people of Paramos and Forest Activity of USAID.

They have created a forestal company to harvest sustainable wood inside their REDD+ project for the next 20 years.

REDD+ is one of the initiatives to mitigate climate change through the protection of forests and emitting carbon offsets for the carbon market.

These REDD+ Projects are supported by USAID through the Paramos and Forests Activity in Colombia.

The REDD+ Projects have been implemented for 18 Afro Colombian community councils and one Indigenous organization.

Active members of Daba’s Community (Jiza District, Amman, Jordan), participating in a practical training on planting techniques and quality inspections. These community members gained knowledge and skills to sustain their lands, using scientifically correct techniques.

WADI works with Daba’s Restoration Site, in collaboration with the Hashemite Fund for the Development of Jordan Badia, to provide technical support and assistance, which will increase the native seedlings survival rate.

Hashemite Fund for the Development of Jordan Badia is a project under the United States Forest Service Funded Watershed Development Initiative.

In Malawi, healthy forests provide critical products and services for rural communities. Makwezu Village Forest Area Committee in Nkhata Bay district, Northern Malawi, has integrated fish farming in their community forest management drive. The committee has established a fishpond to provide an alternative source of livelihood, tied to forest conservation. The Modern Cooking for Healthy Forests Project, co-funded by USAID and FCDO is supporting the Government of Malawi to sustainably manage its forest resources through nature-based initiatives including fish farming, beekeeping and others.

Fungai Mugwenyi, a village health worker in Zaka district (Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe), carries a bucket of water she drew from a nearby borehole that will be used to wash hands at a community gathering. Supported by USAID, Takunda staff have been working closely with village health workers in an effort to manage the welfare of communities attending the community visioning process. Persistent drought in the region has led to a decrease in water availability, low food production and is further compounded by COVID-19 induced lockdowns. Over the next five years Takunda, which means "we have overcome" in Shona, will reach out to more than 300,000 participants with training and support for sustainable, equitable, nutritious, and resilient food and income security in the Masvingo and Manicaland Provinces. The program seeks to address gender inequality and is in partnership with Bulawayo Projects Centre, Environment Africa, FHI 360, International Youth Foundation, and Nutrition Action Zimbabwe.

Peaceful view of a fishing boat off the coast of Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam.

I had been in the beachside city of Nha Trang for a few days, enjoying daily beautiful sunrises (in spite of not being a morning person). On the final day, I was walking around, and I found Mr Hiep, one of the "easy riders" who take foreigners on all-included motorcycle tours of Vietnam's countryside. I paid about $60/day for six days, which covered all of our expenses and included, for free, riding behind Mr. Hiep (but in front of my strongly secured backpack on the back of the bike). 

This view was spotted on the first day, as we drove from coastal Nha Trang upward, into mountainous central Vietnam. It was beautiful, but looking back, it was also one of the first of many instances where I spotted deforestation on my trip. It's quite visible in this photo, if you imagine what the untouched landscape might look like. Even the tallest peak has some deforestation. 

In spite of all that, it's a beautiful photo, and there are many landscapes in Vietnam like it. 

Nigeria is considered a food deficit country, where 72 percent of the population is employed in the agriculture sector, a mainstay of its economy. Ibrahim Lawan, 32, in this photo with certified sorghum seeds, is accompanied by other farmers of Douwuro Producer group of Namtari Manga community, in South Yola area of Adamawa state in North-East Nigeria. A smallholder farmer, he is known as a certified Seed Producer for Sorghum and Rice in his community. In this region of Nigeria, crop yields have reduced due to climate change from dry spells, drought, increased temperature, weather variability, invasive crops, and pests. The smallholder farmers in his community prefer to buy seeds from Ibrahim over the traditional varieties as they are drought tolerant, require less water, are early maturing, pest resistant, and high yielding. Trained under Feed the Future Nigeria's Integrated Agriculture Activity program, Ibrahim sells certified quality seeds in his neighborhood and takes care of his family expenses very well. 

Climate change & energy security are two of the most significant challenges the world faces today. As India fast tracks its developmental agenda, energy consumption will soar. Fossil fuels are a finite resource that will gradually disappear. Therefore, the government of India is focused towards building its renewable energy capacity.  

As India increasingly turns to clean energy to power its growing economy, wind energy is poised to provide the foundation of the renewable energy program in India. The wind energy sector is India’s largest & most successful renewable energy. The wind power program in India was initiated towards the end of the Sixth Plan, in 1983-84. Presently India has an installed wind power generation capacity of more than 26,000 MW making it the fourth largest in the world. However, the potential for wind power generation in India has been estimated at 302 GW at 100 meters’ height.  

This picture shows India’s largest wind turbine project, which runs at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, India. 

Solar Power in India is a fast developing industry. The country's installed solar capacity reached 28.18 GW as of 31 March 2019. The Indian government had an initial target of 20 GW capacity for 2022, which was achieved four years ahead of schedule. In 2015 the target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity (including 40 GW from rooftop solar) by 2022, targeting an investment of US$100 billion.  

The use of cow-patties/ cow-dung cakes are a rural tradition in India. They are a sustainable fuel material that form part & parcel of the traditional way of village life in India.

Dung cakes, made from the by-products of animal husbandry, are traditionally used as fuel in India for making food in a domestic hearth called a Chulha. They are made by hand by village women & are traditionally made from cow or buffalo dung. One dung cake, on average, gives 2100 KJ worth of energy.

This picture shows rural women who are preparing dung cakes, which will be used in the future to prepare food. In this way, India is running with The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2030 Agenda to protect the planet. This picture was taken in a village in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.

This picture shows CaRE-NGO Kaduna's Climate-Smart Agriculture Centre where they do rooftop farming, corridor vegetable farming, grow yams in sacks, vegetative propagation of trees, a tree with more than 10 varieties of mangoes, fish farming, grasscutter farming, rabbit farming, snail farming and lots more; in the urban center. These pictures evidently demonstrate the effort of Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Small Grant Programmes (SGP) of the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria and CaRE-NGO Kaduna, in the fight against climate change. These facilities are currently open and accepting visitors to see what is being done in this center. The source of these pictures is CaRE-NGO Kaduna Climate-Smart Agriculture Centre in Sabon Tasha in Kaduna.

Kalasha Rawal is from Sisnari, Surkhet District; she depends on her small farm and community forest. Climate change has made drought and pests worse in Sisnari causing outmigration. Kalasha belongs to a Multiple Use Water System (MUS) developed by iDE through the Anukulan project (2015-19), funded by the UKAID BRACED Climate program. The MUS provides water to 20 disadvantaged families for domestic needs and agriculture from a spring source in the community forest. MUS provides environmental services, and user fees pay a manager to run the system and protect the water source with fencing, plantings, and a recharge pond. Kalasha uses drip, a bamboo greenhouse, and safe Integrated Pest Management (IPM) including yellow sticky traps purchased from a last mile agent trained by Anukulan. The IPM was developed by the USAID IPM Innovation Lab (2016-21). Kalasha, who is from a disadvantaged ethnic group, produced vegetables using MUS water to improve family nutrition and earn $700/year. These earnings enabled her husband to return from India to work with Kalasha and be with their daughter. iDE Nepal developed over 500 MUS for 80,000 people. iDE works with the government to integrate MUS in adaptation plans shifting farmers from risky rainfed agriculture to piped irrigation.

This forgotten wilderness has been isolated for years due to an armed conflict that has kept tourists and Colombian settlers away from the park’s buffer zone. Sadly, the buffer zones around and land inside Chiribiquete have been affected by rising rates of deforestation. In 2020, the region contained five of 12 deforestation hotspots in Colombia and was home to over 50% of the total national deforested area. 

Now, the USAID-funded Land for Prosperity program in Colombia  is supporting government efforts to halt deforestation by improving land and environment governance tools and supporting government entities involved in land, conservation, and security. In fact, USAID has strategically aligned its environment and rural economic development/land portfolios in order to address deforestation and approach the issues of illicit crops being cultivated in hard-to-reach environmentally protected areas.

USAID’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean program works to combat ocean plastics pollution and reduce waste-linked climate impacts by improving local waste management systems and recycling. In the Philippines, USAID is working to build supportive and sustainable enabling environments for circular economies that can mitigate climate change and adapt systems in response to actual and expected climate effects. Through its grantee, Project Zacchaeus (PZC), USAID is empowering informal waste collectors, known as “Eco-Warriors,” to build skills, foster leadership, and increase safety protections and livelihood opportunities while improving community waste services that reduce plastic pollution and reduce waste-linked greenhouse gas emissions. One of the Eco-Warriors, pictured here, is dressed in personal protective equipment provided by PZC's grant under CCBO during the Spring of 2021.