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  • The mice that roared: how eight tiny countries took on foreign fishing fleets

    June 15, 2021 |

    The Guardian |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Marshall Islands

    Regional cooperation has yielded both big profits and environmental protection to eight small Pacific island nations. Some of the world’s richest countries were overfishing their waters and making billions of dollars doing it - until the tiny islands decided to sell fishing rights as a collective while putting sustainable limits on the commercial activity.

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  • Cooperation and Chocolate: The Story of One Colombian Community's Quest for Peace

    January 14, 2021 |

    Yes! Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Colombia, San José de Apartadó

    Plagued by an internal war, a group of villages in Colombia created a “Peace Community,” declaring themselves neutral in the conflict and focusing their efforts on cultivating the 150 hectares of cacao trees in collectively owned plots to sell to global markets. While villagers still experience violence, the earnings from their crops go into a collective pot and the community decides together how to distribute the funds. “To them, this is actually a very profound act of transcending traditional capitalist society models and building something together,” says an anthropologist who has studied the community.

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  • Meet the Detectives Solving Crimes Against Trees

    February 28, 2020 |

    Reasons to be Cheerful |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Germany, Hamburg

    The Center of Competence on the Origin of Timber in Germany is using innovative methods to help determine timber products’ origins in order to stop illegal wood trading. Scientists can identify wood’s anatomical features and compare them with microscopic samples in the center’s digital database to determine where a piece of wood originally grew. While the process can sometimes take a while, the center has had some successes in detecting illegal logging from some manufacturers.

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  • Haiti and the failed promise of US aid

    October 11, 2019 |

    The Guardian |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: Haiti

    Since Haiti's catastrophic earthquake in 2010, the US has spent $2.3 billion in aid money that has failed to alleviate poverty or help the impoverished nation recover. Bill Clinton led the global response to Haiti's recovery and focused efforts on bringing international manufacturers to Haiti by building an expensive new port from which multinational corporations would bring in investments and stable jobs, but the project failed to do so. This strategy was a continuation of previous US solutions that have failed to bring economic independence to Haiti and have often had the opposite effect, leaving it worse.

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  • Banning foreign home buyers - the New Zealand experiment

    July 15, 2019 |

    BBC |

    Radio |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: New Zealand, Auckland

    Housing affordability is a crisis that many countries face. New Zealand addressed the issue in a controversial way: by outright banning foreign ownership. Since it has come into effect, real estate pricing has gone down, and more properties are available for New Zealand residents. Critics argue that the ban coincided with world events like the Chinese government limiting how much money could leave the country into foreign events. They caution against attributing the lower prices to the ban itself and that it is still too early to see its true impact.

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  • A Faster Way to Find Illicit Fins

    February 04, 2019 |

    Hakai Magazine |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: Hong Kong

    New DNA testing technology is showing promise as a faster, cheaper way to determine if a shark fin came from a protected species, an important task to curbing the illicit shark fin trade across the world. While experts warn that the technology won't act as a deterrent to the practice, it will help authorities better track and determine if shipments are suspect.

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  • Former British intelligence specialists training network of spies to save Rhinos and Elephants 

    January 12, 2019 |

    The Telegraph |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Malawi

    The illegal wildlife trade is consistently a big problem across Africa. To help tackle the issue of poachers, a company called Retarius uses counter-terrorist operations experience by training and mentoring locals involved in the prevention fight. The program is still growing and takes place in Malawi, Cameroon, Benin, and Zambia. In Malawi specifically, the training has resulted in 114 arrests made and 1000 kgs of ivory seized in 2018.

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  • 'Rhino Coin': Can a Cryptocurrency Help Save Africa's Rhinoceroses?

    November 20, 2018 |

    Yale Environment 360 |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: South Africa, Johannesburg

    Some South African ranchers who raise rhinos legally are advocating for a block-chain currency "Rhino Coin." They argue that secure stockpiles of rhino horn could generate much needed funding for wild populations. But the plan is fiercely opposed by many conservation groups, and its success depends on whether or not a global ban on trading horn ends.

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  • He's Turning Lights on in War-Torn Rural Somalia, One Panel at a Time

    October 28, 2018 |

    OZY |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: Somalia

    A Somali refugee who made good in America is working to connect people in his home country with solar power through a company he launched in the U.S. He’s had modest success connecting about 1,000 people so far, giving them better access to online banking and outside news and information. But he faces many challenges as well as competition and the added stress of finding banking partners when international regulators are leery of investing in a country linked to terrorism.

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  • Pakistan Tries a New Way to Pay for a Dam: Crowdsourcing

    October 25, 2018 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Pakistan

    Under financial strain, Pakistan is asking its citizens and Pakistanis abroad to donate money to build two dams. Only $48 million of the estimated cost of $14 billion has been raised so far, yet the country’s new prime minister Imran Khan is optimistic. “We can build dams in five years if the donations continue,” he said.

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