Climatelinks Photo Gallery

Members of an agricultural society in Saint Thomas, Jamaica, started as subsistence farmers and blossomed into business-savvy apiculturists. Through the USAID-funded Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystems Adapting to Climate Change project, the group learned about the importance of these key pollinators and how beekeeping and selling honey products can provide climate-smart economic opportunities.

In March 2019, in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam, forest owners living in Cat Tien National Park learn how register to receive payments through their mobile phone through Vietnam's Payments for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) mechanism. They also learn how to access money once a payment is made, and how to transfer the money to other accounts. Vietnam’s PFES program addresses climate change by providing financial compensation to people living in the forest to protect and improve the landscape. The USAID/Vietnam’s Vietnam Forests and Deltas project improves the transparency and accountability of PFES by supporting the transition from cash-based payments to electronic payments. This Vietnam Forests and Deltas project is implemented by Winrock International in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam.

In Haruku Village, Central Maluku District, Maluku Province of Indonesia, USAID through its Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience (Adaptasi Perubahan Iklim dan Ketangguhan – APIK) project supports the community to enhance their resilience. They are prone to climate impacts, especially tidal waves and coastal erosion that affected the communities who live by the seaside. Through various efforts, the issue of climate and disaster is mainstreamed in the village government work plan, which can be seen in mangrove planting along the coastline to overcome abrasion threat, seawall rehabilitation, and boat moorings making. Paulus Mustamu, better known as Uncle Poly, believes that mangrove is an important part of coastal ecosystem in his village. He is determined to protect his village by restoring a healthy mangrove ecosystem. He hopes that Haruku community is able live in harmony with the nature, but also is resilient in facing the climate impacts. Photo date: October 8, 2016

Within the framework of the “Alliance for Sustainable Landscapes and Markets”, financed by USAID and implemented by Rainforest Alliance in Mexico, we strengthen resilient, sustainable farm, and forestland management of coffee producers in Chiapas. One of the main goals with our partner Olam is to reforest 4,000 hectares around coffee farms in Chiapas in order to preserve the region’s natural resources and strengthen the forest management of coffee producers. Women from the collective “Oro Verde”, who are working with Olam, are implementing sustainable practices in reforestation and landscape restoration like soil conservation, waste management, plant nurseries management, and tree planting. The inclusion of women in community-led actions for reforestation and landscape restoration is essential to accomplish more and better results in sustainable forestry management and climate smart agriculture. Photo taken in Sinai, Chiapas, 2019.

In March 2019, in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam, an ethnic minority woman practices receiving money on her mobile phone for the first time through Vietnam's Payments for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) mechanism. The PFES program addresses climate change by providing financial compensation to people living in the forest to protect and improve the landscape. The USAID/Vietnam’s Vietnam Forests and Deltas project improves the transparency and accountability of PFES by supporting the transition from cash-based payments to electronic payments. This Vietnam Forests and Deltas project is implemented by Winrock International in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam.

Briquettes are blocks of flammable matter made from biodegradable waste. Rural households in Uganda use them to cook food. They burn with no air pollution; hence, maintain hygiene protecting natural systems in a changing world.

Briquettes are also cheaper and affordable than traditional charcoal. Additionally, they are made from locally available materials and waste improves sanitation. Briquette making is a simple and affordable technology. Above all they are important for protecting natural systems in a changing world for instance of cutting many trees, waste from charcoal made from forests may be utilized.

In March 2016 in Nghe An Province, the USAID/Vietnam Vietnam Forests and Deltas Project worked with forest rangers in Pu Hoat Natural Reserve to use tablets to improve forest monitoring. The Vietnam Forests and Deltas project supports Vietnam’s Payments for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) mechanism to better monitor and evaluate the impact PFES has on Vietnam’s forests. The Vietnam Forests and Deltas project is implemented by Winrock International in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam.

In January 2019 in Lam Dong Province, a woman successfully withdraws cash from a distribution point in her village using her mobile phone through Vietnam's Payments for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) mechanism. The PFES program addresses climate change by providing financial compensation to people living in the forest to protect and improve the landscape. The USAID/Vietnam’s Vietnam Forests and Deltas project improves the transparency and accountability of PFES by supporting the transition from cash-based payments to electronic payments. The Vietnam Forests and Deltas project is implemented by Winrock International in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam.

August 2019.

Image taken in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic. This image reflects the work done by a group of 5 young people who were introduced to coral restoration as a method of adaptation to climate change in coastal areas. The works were carried out under the Climate Risk Reduction Program.

In this photo, a stream nourishes a diverse array of water lilies and vines in the Barconnie Community Forest, Grand Bassa County, Liberia. Despite wide-spread pressure by private logging companies to harvest timber from Liberia's community forests, the Barconnie Community Forest Management Body recognized the potential of the forest to support scientific research, given its close proximity to Liberia's capital city, Monrovia, and the presence of native forest buffalo and other wildlife and plants of conservation value. The 600 hectare forest, largely made up of carbon-rich mangrove swamp, was conserved in perpetuity by the local CFMB after they conducted a forest and biodiversity inventory supported by the USAID Forest Incomes for Environmental Sustainability Activity in March 2019.

Bataraza, Palawan, Philippines, June 18, 2019.
By Jessie Cereno, Talakatha Creatives

A woman farmer sows rice seeds in what used to be a slash-and-burn area of Mount Mantalingahan in southern Palawan, Philippines. Slash-and-burn farming has become rampant in the mountain, aggravating occasional timber poaching and hunting of threatened species like the talking mynah and blue-naped parrot, which are popular pets even among the locals.

To establish and strengthen financing support for sustainable agricultural production in target communities within the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape, the USAID-funded Protect Wildlife Project holds capacity-building workshops for local farmers in project sites. These farmers are now learning how to make their ancestral land more productive.

Protecting the forest and stopping illegal wildlife trade is a livelihood issue. One cannot just tell the person to stop hunting birds without offering alternative livelihood. By introducing a better source of income or livelihood, controlling the spread of slash-and-burn areas, the project hopes to reduce the human pressure on Mount Mantalingahan, so that the protected area can perform its natural functions in helping mitigate climate change.

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.

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.