Climatelinks Photo Gallery

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

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.

Members of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD)’s Department of Forest Inventory and Zoning (DIAF) in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo and employees of the Central African Satellite Forest Observatory (OSFAC) complete exercises during a training on estimating forest cover change in November 2017. 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 the 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 May 2018, the U.S. Forest Service International Programs, in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society and supported by USAID’S Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, held a birdwatching training to train guides from Kahuzi Biega and Virunga National Parks in bird watching with the aim to diversify tourism activities to attract new types of visitors. Building capacity of national park staff to promote ecotourism 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.

Tour operators from around the Central Africa region are welcomed by the Bushi people in the Royal Kingdom of Kabare in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of an event showcasing tourism activities in and around Kahuzi Biega National Park in December 2018. The event, co-organized by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and the Wildlife Conservation Society and supported by USAID’s Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, aimed to promote the parks offerings and encourage more tours operators in the region to offer trips to the area. Building capacity of national park staff and involving 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 Liberian man learned about agroforestry techniques to apply within his own community forest through the USAID-funded Forest Incomes for Environmental Sustainability Activity in 2017. The Activity works with farmers and forest-dependent communities in Liberia to develop enterprises that not only provide income but also combat deforestation and biodiversity loss.

Soko Koryon, Forest Inventory Coordinator for the USAID Forest Incomes for Environmental Sustainability (FIFES) Activity, describes the methodology used to implement a transect of the Barconnie Community Forest in Grand Bassa County, Liberia as a student from the Liberia Forestry Training Institute looks on. The 600 hectare forest, largely made up of carbon-rich mangrove swamp, was conserved in perpetuity by the local Community Forest Management Body after they conducted a forest and biodiversity inventory supported by the FIFES activity in March 2019.

Participants in the peatland forest inventory training present their results to trainers Dr. John Hribljan of the U.S. Forest Service (far right) and Basile Mpati (second right), who works with the National Center for Forest Inventory and Zoning in the Republic of the Congo (CNIAF). This training, held by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and the FAO and supported by USAID’s Central Africa Program for the Environment and the SilvaCarbon program, was an opportunity for technicians from the DRC Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development's Department of Forest Inventory and Zoning to learn about inventory sampling methods in peat forests so that they will be able to more accurately calculate how much carbon is currently stored in the country's forests. 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.

This photo was captured in Biliqo-Bulesa Community of Isiolo County in Kenya during a field assessment of community vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability in 2018. The Acacia tree under which they shelter at peak sun hours drop highly nutritious seed pods that the animals eat before they embark on grazing in the late afternoon or evening when the sun goes down.

Men throw cast nets into a water body in Pursat province, Cambodia. In rural Cambodia, people eat fish 4-5 times per week – more often than any other meat. Thanks to the USAID-funded Feed the Future Cambodia Rice Field Fisheries II project, people in 140 communities are trained and resourced to improve and protect fish habitats. This in turn helps to protect local fish from climate shocks and illegal fishing, thus helping to secure a valuable public resource for future generations. By 2021, this project will benefit over 290,000 fishing families in four provinces of rural Cambodia. Photo credit: Fani Llauradó / WorldFish.

Ernestine Tipi leads a group tour at the University of Kinshasa during a scoping mission by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs, supported by USAID’s Africa Bureau, in July 2018. The scoping mission was part of a broader project looking at alternative local species to integrate into agroforestry woodfuel systems to increase the volume of sustainable charcoal supply for urban areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Charcoal is the main source of cooking fuel in the DRC, and an increasing urban demand for it is resulting in forest degradation and deforestation.

Technicians learn how to tell the difference between peat and other soils during a training in Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo in January 2018. This training, held by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and the FAO and supported by USAID’s Central Africa Program for the Environment and the SilvaCarbon program, was an opportunity for technicians from the DRC Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development's Department of Forest Inventory and Zoning to learn about inventory sampling methods in peat forests so that they will be able to more accurately calculate how much carbon is currently stored in the country's forests. 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.

Technicians learn how to take peat soil samples in wetland forests during a training in Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo in January 2018. This training, held by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and the FAO and supported by USAID’s Central Africa Program for the Environment and the SilvaCarbon program, was an opportunity for technicians from the DRC Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development's Department of Forest Inventory and Zoning to learn about inventory sampling methods in peat forests so that they will be able to more accurately calculate how much carbon is currently stored in the country's forests. 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.

Tour operators from around the Central Africa region were welcomed by the Bushi people in the Royal Kingdom of Kabare in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of an event showcasing tourism activities in and around Kahuzi Biega National Park in December 2018. The event, co-organized by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and the Wildlife Conservation Society and supported by USAID’s Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, aimed to promote the parks offerings and encourage more tours operators in the region to offer trips to the area. Building capacity of national park staff and involving 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.

Basile Mpati explains how to properly measure peat forests in the Botanical Garden of Eala in Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo before taking a group of technicians out into the field in January 2018. This training, held by the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and the FAO and supported by USAID’s Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment and the SilvaCarbon program, was an opportunity for technicians from the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development's Department of Forest Inventory and Zoning to learn about inventory sampling methods in peat forests so that they will be able to more accurately calculate how much carbon is currently stored in the country's forests. 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.

Dried up lake in the Bolivian salt flats.