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This startup is using geo-tagging and blockchain to fight deforestation in Africa

Paul Adepoju

December 24, 2019 |

CNN |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Ethiopia, Addis Ababa

The My Roots in Africa Project is an initiative of a group called the Most Influential People of African Descent, which seeks to build connection between Africans in Africa and elsewhere around the world through the act of having trees planted in their honor to combat deforestation, especially in West and East Africa. The project will complement the mission of the Great Green Wall and the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative, both of which also aim to plant large numbers of trees across Africa.

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Community conservation agreements a lifeline for Uganda's grey crowned cranes

Fredrick Mugira

December 24, 2019 |

Mongabay |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Uganda, Kabale

Working with communities to develop alternative forms of livelihood helps to curb unsustainable practices and land degradation. In Uganda, the destruction of wetland habitat by farmers had had a serious impact on the population of grey crowned cranes in recent decades. The Cranes and Wetlands conservation project provides support to local communities, working to find alternatives to draining wetlands and promoting habitat restoration.

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In Borneo, healthy people equals healthy forests

Adam Wernick

November 12, 2019 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Indonesia, Borneo

Those who live on the island of Borneo understand that their well-being comes from the Gunung Palung National Park, but logging remained rampant because it was the only way to make money to pay for healthcare. Thus, an organization named "Health in Harmony" was borne through "radically listening" to locals to find out what they needed. This organization accepts creative forms of payment for healthcare and offers incentives to cease logging, including a chainsaw buyback program. As a result, ten years later they saw a 90% drop in logging households and a re-growth of 52,000 acres of forest.

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Drone Swarms and Gene-Altered Corals Fight Climate Change

Tom Gibson Vicky Feng Leila Hussain

October 29, 2019 |

Bloomberg |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Replanting and replenishing damaged ecosystems is crucial to mitigating further adverse effects of climate change. From the forests of the American Pacific Northwest, to the coral reefs around the globe, startups and scientists are working to increase the resilience of natural systems. DroneSeed, in Seattle, WA, leverages drone technology to increase reforestation efforts. Meanwhile, biologists in Thailand are working to cultivate hardy corals.

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Interlocking Bricks: A Solution To Environment Degradation

Aisha Nanyonjo

August 07, 2019 |

Things That Work Uganda |

Multi-Media |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Uganda, Bidibidi

Because deforestation in Uganda is rapidly increasing, including in the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, a new tactic for constructing bricks for housing that didn't require trees was developed by Mercy Corps, UK Aid, and the Office of the Prime Minister. The new bricks are made of interlocking soil bricks consisting of sand, gravel, cement, and little water. This new solution is cost-effective, can be made on site, and preserves the local trees.

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Refugees and host community gang up to fight climate change

Noah Omuya

August 02, 2019 |

Things That Work Uganda |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Uganda, Bidibidi

The Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda, the largest such settlement in the world, is working with a number of agencies including the UNHCR and The Office of the Prime Minister to address environmental issues in their ever-growing settlement. They are strategizing about a number of initiatives to improve life and conditions where they live with topics like Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Education, Health, or Infrastructure. Current solutions include planting over 470,000 trees, local communities donating land for settlers to build their own crops, and environmental education in the local schools.

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Can planting billions of trees save the planet?

Patrick Barkham

June 19, 2019 |

The Guardian |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: England

Across the world, TreeSisters is partnering with local organizations to help reforestation efforts. The nonprofit is centered on bolstering local, community-based, and usually women-led initiatives in countries like Kenya and Madagascar. The organization cites the fact that women are most often the ones interacting with the environment, and so raising awareness and taking action in such a gendered way can leverage the most impact.

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A prayer for trees: For Kenyan tribes, saving forests is a sacred duty

Dominic Kirui

May 29, 2019 |

Thomson Reuters Foundation |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Kenya, Forole

Communities around Kenya address national deforestation by relying on individuals to make changes in the way they use timber as well as to plant trees to repopulate suffering forests. Many towns set strict guidelines about timber sourcing, requiring residents to source from specific groves outside community boundaries; others teach children from a young age that trees are sacred and not to be cut down.

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An (Even More) Inconvenient Truth: Why Carbon Credits For Forest Preservation May Be Worse Than Nothing

Lisa Song

May 22, 2019 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Rio Branco, Acre

This story examines the well-publicized climate-change strategy of carbon credits: the idea that a CO₂-emitting company could offset its emissions by funding anti-logging efforts, effectively "saving" the equivalent amount of carbon. However, as it turns out, despite its popularity, most carbon credit programs do not actually work or, worse, may do more harm than good. This article details the shortcomings of this attempted solution to the effects of global warming.

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Cash for trees: Homegrown carbon offset program bears fruit

Ryan Lenora Brown Christopher Bendana

May 21, 2019 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Uganda, Rubirizi District

Trees for Global Benefits is a carbon offset program that aims to partner with, rather than displace, locals in countries that have space to plant forests. For instance, in the Rubirizi District in Uganda, locals are getting paid to plant trees on their land. This hopes to eliminate the negative ramifications of other carbon offset programs that have displaced native people. Still, companies should be looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions beyond bringing their problems to other countries.

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