deforestation Archives

Post Tagged with: "deforestation"

Back to the Farm

February 27, 2013

Get this: 80% of Burkina Faso’s population attempts to make it’s living in subsistence agriculture while only 19% of land is arable. That makes farming kind of like a guy getting a date in a country where men outnumber women four to one. Poor soil qualities, fluctuations in rainfall, and topsoil erosion all contribute to the country’s crop production woes. Recent work is displayed here from the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s agricultural programs in Burkina Faso. MCC, a humanitarian arm of the US State Department, is boosting production and access to markets for small farmers in this West African country, however. The programs shown here document the organization’s efforts in sustainable agriculture, livestock vaccination, fertilizers, and agro-forestry, as well as ground-breaking, innovative initiatives. In the Market Information Systems program, agents use cell phone technology to publish regional market prices for a variety of commodities. Farmers who subscribe to the database can[…]

Greener Pastures

August 10, 2011

My most recent video assignment is truly a story of success. The Kimaro family has graduated from poverty thanks to the programs of the environmental NGO Plant With Purpose. Several years ago Jacob & Joyce Kimaro were small farmers living in poverty and trying to make ends meet on the foothills of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. Things became even more difficult when Mr. Kimaro’s brother and sister-in-law passed away, and they had to take in seven extra children. It was then that the Kimaros joined VICOBA, the Village Community Bank organized by Plant With Purpose. There the family received training in sustainable agriculture practices, organic farming, and earning income while preserving the environment. VICOBA members are also able to save money jointly and access credit each week. Today the Kimaros not only have their bills paid on time, but are eating healthy and balanced diets while preserving their natural surroundings.

KEEPing the rainforest alive – Kenya’s Kakamega Forest Reserve

November 3, 2009

I was recently in Western Kenya. What was intended to be a quick stopover en route to Uganda turned into four days of rummaging through a rainforest with my camera wrapped in plastic shopping bags. As my “hotel” was without it, I had to hitch a ride on the back of a motorcycle to the nearest place with electricity so I could download images and charge batteries every night. Not too long ago Africa’s midsection was a band of almost solid rainforest, stretching over six million square kilometers from West Africa along the Atlantic, through to the Central African Republic and the DRC, into East Africa. Today, the Guineo-Congolian rainforest, as it is known, is now just a remnant of what it once was, its canopies having suffered the impact of logging, oil and mineral exploration. In the case of the Kakamega Forest, large areas were cleared during colonial times[…]