Posts Tagged ‘africa’
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In the Field with Cybertracker
Back in October, we posted a story about a new technological tool called Cybertracker that is being used by indigenous San communities in southern Africa to track and monitor wildlife. Last week, Botswana’s largest daily newspaper published another story on the CI-funded project, providing new insight into the lives of the trackers as they deal with long treks, staggering temperatures and potentially dangerous animals on a daily basis. The life of a tracker is difficult, but its benefits outweigh the challenges. The Cybertracker project provides a rare employment opportunity for local people, encouraging them to continue the millennia-old cultural tradition of animal ... -
Extra! Extra! The New Issue of Team Earth Magazine Has Arrived
Where can you find stunning photographs and inspiring stories highlighting CI’s work around the globe? What does it mean when CI says we are taking our activities to a whole new scale? It means this—Among other things, the new issue of Team Earth will: summarize the outcomes from December’s United Nations meetings in Copenhagen, and examine the next steps we must take to tackle climate change; explore how partner organizations in southern Africa are working with CI to save elephants while improving human livelihoods; reveal CI’s ambitious new plan to save the world’s oceans; and visit the forests and farms of Tanzania, where CI’s TEAM ... -
CI Partner Wildlife Works Pioneers Kenya’s First GOLD Level REDD Project
In 2005, CI’s Verde Ventures program helped to finance the establishment of Wildlife Works’ eco-factory in Rukinga Kenya as a critical piece of the long term vision of Wildlife Works. Founded in San Francisco in 1997, with an innovative mission based on “consumer-powered conservation,” Wildlife Works aimed to use revenue from the sale of sustainable products to finance wildlife protection efforts in Kenya and around the world. Now, thirteen years later, Wildlife Works has expanded from selling clothes and accessories to selling something that is more vital to life on Earth, yet also harder to see: carbon. Last month, Wildlife Works ... -
Despite Troubled History, New Hope in Liberia
As I stood in front of our new office in Congo Town this week, just steps away from the sprawling Chinese Embassy complex, I was taken back to my introduction to Liberia in 2005. CI had already been in the country for three years, seeing our partners through the end of war, a transitional government and the election of the first female African Head of State. At that time, the only way to get to Monrovia was with the UN peacekeeping mission or on one of the Nigerian carriers, all of which overbook and work on a first-come, first-serve basis. ... -
Drought in East Africa: The Human Benefits of Standing Forests
This week, an Associated Press article about drought in Kenya brought millions of people’s attention to the deep connections between the environment and human well-being. It is during years of extreme weather events such as severe drought, flooding, hurricanes and wildfires that we are all reminded how close many people live to the very edge of survival and at the behest of Mother Nature. This is the case for many in East Africa, which is now plagued by the worst drought in nearly 50 years. The failure of the last two anticipated rainy seasons has led to rivers drying up and ... -
Alex Peal honored with Commander, Star of Africa distinction in Liberia
There is a saying in Liberia which says, “A man is never completely satisfied if he is not honored within his own country, regardless of how many honors he receives on the outside.” This was my immediate reaction upon receiving the Commander, Star of Africa distinction from the President of Liberia, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. I had worked directly for my country for over 20 years (1970 to 1990 as a forester and a conservationist) and indirectly for 18 years. During the civil war, I fled and became a refugee in southern California, where I worked with colleagues to maintain ... -
From burning to replanting in Madagascar
Diego Suarez is a picturesque natural harbor in northeastern Madagascar. Towering above it is Montagne de Francais, a large mountain covered in pristine forest, which shelters dozens of rare species and protects the region’s watershed. Uncontrolled demand for wood-based products and charcoal threatened to wipe out millions of acres of forest, and in turn threaten the health of local people by disrupting their -
Creating Equitable Livelihoods in Liberia
The challenges the people of Liberia face after 14 years of civil war – a war that left the nation in tatters – are great. But despite these challenges, there is opportunity. Forests once ravaged by conflict have started to heal. And people once crushed by poverty and unemployment are on the mend. The danger is that meeting the immediate humanitarian needs of the country in the short term could sacrifice sustainable development needs over the long term – potentially fueling conflict, as was the case in the past. That’s where CI’s innovative Conservation Growth Poles program comes in. We ... -
Health and Nature Go Hand in Hand: Madagascar Case Study
When people can’t get what they need to survive, conservation can’t succeed. At Conservation International, we’re turning this equation around – making sure that people have the necessities they need to thrive so that they can and want to protect the Earth and its resources. Rarely is the connection between human health and nature more obvious than in the relationship between people and fresh water. Fresh water must be readily available, clean and suitable for agriculture, washing, and – perhaps most importantly – human consumption. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 94 percent of the nearly two million annual diarrheal deaths ...
