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  • On the Mesoamerican Reef, a model for insuring nature's future

    July 21, 2021 |

    Struggles from Below Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Mexico, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo

    In Puerto Morelos, the 100-mile stretch of the Mesoamerican Reef is insured. The model was born out of a collaboration between the local government, hotel owners, an international NGO, and an insurance behemoth, who got together to create a trust. The trust was funded by the local government which used hotel taxes to pay for the reef's maintenance. 80 percent of the coral in the reef has been lost or degraded since the 1980s, but insuring a natural asset might provide a conservation model for other cities.

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  • This Is the First Ecosystem With Its Own Insurance Policy

    July 20, 2021 |

    Reasons to be Cheerful |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Mexico

    In Mexico, the Mesoamerican Reef, a 100-mile long coral reef system, the second largest in the word, is insured. The insurance policy is the result of a collaboration between the local government, hotel owners, an international NGO, and an insurance company who saw the value of protecting the reef. After Hurricane Delta, the insurance first kicked in, the insurance paid out $850,000. The money was used to uproot 2,152 coral colonies and close to 14,000 coral fragments. The model could be an example of future moves to insure the environment.

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  • Wales's "One Planet" Policy Is Transforming Rural Life

    February 12, 2021 |

    Reasons to be Cheerful |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Wales, Pembrokeshire

    Wales’ One Planet Development Policy allows people to live a more sustainable lifestyle by using only the resources on the land where they reside. For one family, they get their electricity from their own solar array, heat from firewood, and food from their gardens and livestock. Each year, they must prove that they are using only their “global fair share” of resources. So far, 46 farms have signed on to the program and the lessons learned from the experiment are helping to inform the government’s actions on other policies like housing.

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  • A Pioneering Welsh Housing Initiative For a Life in Ecological Harmony

    February 01, 2021 |

    Struggles from Below Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Wales

    A housing initiative in Wales is combining affordable housing with ecological sustainability. The One Planet Development policy (OPD) gives residents an exemption to stringent countryside planning laws if they commit to a sustainable lifestyle. “There can be tension between affordable living and sustainability, but in the OPD we have an exemplar of low-impact, low-cost development.”

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  • Collective Reincorporation: The FARC's fading dream

    November 27, 2019 |

    Struggles from Below Magazine |

    Multi-Media |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Colombia, Dabeiba

    In an effort to reincorporate former guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the Colombian government created Territorial Training and Reincorporation Spaces (ETCRs) to allow partial autonomy for the guerrilla groups. Many of the ETCRs have created successful product businesses - from chicken farms to community gardens - but community members continue to leave, leaving the ETCRs looking to the government for continued support and land rights.

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  • Colombia's flying doctors

    September 26, 2019 |

    Struggles from Below Magazine |

    Photojournalism |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Colombia

    Due to rural conditions and political unrest throughout the region, many in Colombia struggle to access health care, but a group of volunteer pilots is tackling this problem by bringing the health care to the communities that need it. Although the effort started out small, the program now includes 300 volunteer health professionals and 70 volunteer pilots.

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  • The hip hop school taking on Medellin's mean streets

    July 05, 2019 |

    Struggles from Below Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Colombia, Medellín

    Learning the art of hip-hop provides youth with an alternative to the violence and despair that characterize disadvantaged neighborhoods. In Medellin, Colombia, a program called 4 Elementos teaches kids dance, Dj’ing, rap, and graffiti in a structured way, providing a creative outlet. Hosted in the high school of one the cities most troubled neighborhoods, the program began as an initiative of the Colombian hip-hop group, Crew Peligrosos. Having already reached thousands of kids, the program is looking to expand across Colombia with support from the ABC Foundation.

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  • Renewing London

    July 04, 2019 |

    Struggles from Below Magazine |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: England, London

    In London, two community-driven initiatives are working side by side to engage residents in sustainable practices. Energy Garden, a community energy cooperative, has created green spaces in rail stations offers residents community gardens, nature education, and solar power. Repower, the other initiative, works with residents to communally invest in renewable energy for low-income neighborhoods while also providing those neighborhoods with energy jobs and mentoring services.

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