Climatelinks Photo Gallery

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.

Southwest Bangladesh is a watery world. Houses perch on steep riverbanks. Storms pummel fragile coastlines. It’s hard not to see this starkly beautiful place as engaged in a battle between water and land, with the water winning. But the land has a new ally, a living hem of mangrove forests made possible by Winrock International’s Climate Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihoods (CREL) project, funded by USAID. “If we don’t have trees, we are flooded,” says Bharati Rani Bishwash, who was left homeless after a typhoon in 2009. It’s a view that many Bangladeshis share. “I’m taking care of the trees now,” says Bishwash, “and in time the trees will take care of me." Subject: Bharati Rani Bishwash Location: Koyra, Bangladesh August 17, 2017

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.

It was a relatively simple shift, but required a big leap of faith on the part of thousands of smallholder coffee farmers growing Arabica trees in southern Shan State. Specialty coffee experts partnering with USAID's Value Chains for Rural Development project in Myanmar suggested that farmers experiment with a new way to add value to their coffee by "sun-drying" it atop easy-to-build, ventilated tables that could be built cheaply with bamboo and mesh. By doing so, they could tap into the growing global specialty market for sundried natural Arabica, harness the sun's energy and avoid the need to use large volumes of water required to produce "washed" coffees. It worked, and, combined with new market linkages fostered by the project and partners, Shan coffee farmers are now earning 2-4 times more for their sustainably produced, sundried natural Arabica than they previously earned. What's more, producers and processors in the region have formed new businesses, are attracting bank financing and are now selling directly to high-end domestic and global specialty coffee buyers.

In Myanmar, thousands of small, backyard coffee plantations dot the landscape in mountainous Shan State. In places like Hopong Township, they provide extra income and an alternative to poppy production. Most of the small coffee farms are tended and harvested by women, because they are planted close to home. New production practices introduced by USAID's Value Chains for Rural Development project, implemented by Winrock International, over the past four years have been widely adopted by women growers, who have become champions of a new way of coffee cultivation that is generating increased incomes through quality premiums. New, community-managed coffee processing stations in Hopong and other areas around the country are making use of raised drying tables that use the sun's power to dry coffee cherries, reducing the need to use water for washed or "wet" processed coffee. The new methods have resulted in award-winning coffees that are now available in Myanmar's finest specialty cafes and, increasingly coveted by importers willing to pay good prices directly to farmers for a sustainably farmed product.

Ganesh Rokaya (Left) and Deepa Poudel (Right) are Community Business Facilitators (CBFs) and Plant Doctors in Surkhet District Nepal. Together they are conducting a Plant Clinic diagnosing samples to recommend safe Integrated Pest Management (IPM) bio solutions for disease and pest problems that are made worse by climate change. CBFs earn commissions on agro sales and provide training to smallholder customers. Ganesh and Deepa each earn about $1,100/year working part time as CBFs, providing services respectively to 750 and 800 mainly women smallholder customers respectively. On average they help their customers earn over $450/year selling vegetables. Ganesh and Deepa were trained to be CBFs by the USAID IPM Innovation Lab (IPM-IL, 2015-19) led Globally by Virginia Tech and in Nepal by partner iDE. They use IPM-based recommendations developed by the IPM-IL working with Government. The IPM-IL in partnership with the global CABI Plant Wise program trained 44 CBFs to become Plant Doctors. Plant Doctors receive intensive training, have access to online databases, and are backstopped by Nepal’s plant protection services. Ganesh and Deepa have extended safe technologies to successfully control the devastating exotic Tuta Absoluta Tomato pest that arrived in 2016. (Photo by Bimala Rai Colavito, iDE Volunteer, 12/31/18)

Water debit and quality of Ake Gaale spring’s retention pond have increased after the infiltration ponds were built. The infiltration ponds construction is one of the key recommendations of the Spring Vulnerability Assessment and Action Plan (KKMA) that Ternate city government and USAID IUWASH PLUS has conducted since early 2017. Based on the assessment result, Ternate city government expects to build 1,000 infiltration ponds to restore Ake Gaale water quantity and quality.

In Malawi, volunteer members of the community watershed committee are helping maintain a stony wall in the watershed area of Kublang in March 2017. The USAID-funded UBALE (United in Building and Advancing Life Expectations) project trains farmers in watershed management methods to ensure the sustainable use of resources and preserve the watershed. Watershed functions are threatened in this area by poor farming systems, erosion, deforestation, and drought. The goal of UBALE is to sustainably reduce food insecurity and build resilience among 250,000 vulnerable households in the Blantyre Rural, Chikwawa, and Nsanje districts of southern Malawi.

A model family farmer in Mozambique is learning about conservation agriculture and sharing this knowledge with her community of fellow farmers. With better practices, she is seeing improved yields. With improved yields, her and her community able to sell more maize to generate income to support their families.

Feed the Future Resilient Agricultural Markets Activity Beira Corridor (RAMA-BC).

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.

Mirarisoa village, Haute Matsiatra Region in Central Madagascar. April 9, 2019.

The acacia tree is highly recommended for reforestation because of its rapid growth. It is possible to obtain an acacia forest within five years after planting. The ASOTRY project chose this type of tree for its reforestation activity because it nourishes the soil by fixing nitrogen and restoring fertility benefits, and because it retains water. Marie, a nursery agent, planted 5,500 seedlings of acacia on her family's land.

The members of a local Disaster and Risk Management committee in Belamboa bas Village, South-West region of Madagascar, in April 02, 2019, planting cactus seedlings.

This region is Madagascar is hit by a chronic drought, that causes severe food insecurity among the community and their cattle. When the local Disaster and Risk Management Committee received support from ASOTRY project, funded by USAID/FFP, to implement a disaster management plan, they decided to plant cactus on a 4 hectares field, as a coping measure to food shortage for the cattle. Cactus is known to be resilient to hot and dry climates.