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  • A women's squad in Odisha defends its forest for 20 years

    Biodiversity and forest cover in Gundalba rebounded after a women-led group started using whistles and rotational patrols to scare away timber smugglers and woodcutters. The group also helped neighboring villages coordinate fuelwood gathering and avoid conflicts.

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  • Farmers in Uttarakhand Look to the Past to Benefit the Future

    Mountains are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and a mountain city in India is finding sustainable solutions in traditional agriculture. Women overwhelmingly make up the farming workforce in Uttarakhand and are using a number of ways to combat the effects of the temperature increase. These solutions include bringing back an ancient grain, finger millet, to appeal to new tastes and dishes, storing seed banks of traditional varieties, and opening a cafe serving local food using the ancient grains to attract outside visitors.

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  • The Last Wolves

    Vaccination against diseases such as rabies and canine distemper virus in dogs can have positive effects on public health and biodiversity. In Ethiopia, diseases spread from semi-feral dogs threaten communities of the endangered Ethiopian wolf. The non-profit Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program (EWCP) partners with the government as well as numerous international partners to inoculate dogs and educate villages in public health awareness. EWCP has also undertaken vaccination programs for populations of wolves, as well.

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  • Healing and hope: how Indigenous guardians are transforming conservation

    Enrolling indigenous knowledge in environmental conservation programs empowers communities and promotes responsible land management. Conservation programs in Australia and Canada rely on indigenous communities to monitor and maintain remote and protected areas. Investment in these programs not only furthers the goal of environmental conservation, but also pays dividends by bringing jobs to indigenous communities.

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  • How Danone, Kashi and Land O'Lakes are backing sustainable farming

    Because the upfront costs of transitioning a farm to be certified organic can be burdensome to farmers amidst a growing demand for organic food, large companies like Kashi and Land O'Lakes are creating a number of initiatives to help ease the process. Techniques include no-interest advances for expensive initial supplies, fair trade premiums that go to local community work, and soil health initiatives for suppliers. The companies even implement a complex data tracking system to gather information on yield and profitability, which can then be used to inform future sustainable practice transitions.

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  • Butterfly business: Insect farmers help conserve East African forests

    In Kenya and Tanzania, butterfly farming is emerging as a viable alternative to those seeking employment beyond illegal logging or hunting practices. While up to 1,200 farmers have participated in various butterfly projects across the countries, using their profits to educate their families and begin small businesses, the initiative has seen some roadblock from government mandates preventing wildlife exports.

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  • Punjab's marginalised communities struggle for their right to cultivate common lands

    Balad Kalan’s Scheduled Castes, popularly called Dalits, collectively bid to win the rights to fertile common lands that big landlords had taken control of. Each family contributed what they could and, after protests due to the lack of transparency in the bidding process, won 53 hectares, or one-third of the common land, which was distributed among 145 families. Fifty other villages have since won collective land rights by replicating the joint bidding process. An 11-member cooperative manages the land in each village, which is distributed to families in proportion to their monetary contribution.

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  • Restoring the Range: Can Beef Be Earth-Friendly?

    Mortenson Cattle Ranch in Hayes, South Dakota is redefining sustainability practices for cattle-raising farmers by using a model that restored the habitat, wildlife, and water sources on their land. Mimicking the habits of bison herds, the Mortensons use a technique called holistic range management to rotate their cattle's grazing areas, which increases distribution of wildflower and grass seeds, as well as planting trees and replenishing groundwater using dikes and dams. Having started this in the 1980s, 90% of their 19,000 acre property is back to native vegetation, and efforts are still ongoing.

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  • What a project in Wisconsin can teach others about working with farmers to reduce phosphorus runoff

    In Green Bay, Wisconsin, farmers are experimenting with BMPs, or best management practices, to farm their land in a way that protects the environment and decrease algae in the water. Five years into the pilot program, early results show some progress - and as more farmers adopt BMPs, the bigger the impact on the waterways will be.

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  • The Feat in Hojancha, the Town that Lost its Forest

    In 1976, the Costa Rican city Hojancha preserved only 2% of its land as forest, and as a result their water supply (the Río Nosara river basin) dried up from the lack of vegetation. Sixteen years into the crisis, two friends conceived and ran an initiative to reforest the land by asking every family in the city to donate ¢1,000 a month until they could buy back the land in full from the ranchers who owned it. Now, the land is thriving again, though the project of regrowing the forest continues still today.

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