A girl is trained in organic agriculture with funding from Greengrants. Courtesy of the Global Greengrants Fund
DCL
Watch the stories of 13 innovative environmental thinkers working for change in Fast Forward.
The Quiche Maya people in central Guatemala have a tradition. With an understanding that a healthy forest is vital for maintaining a healthy watershed
These individuals dedicate themselves to leading reforestation efforts and conservation practices, such as protecting the endangered Guatemalan Fir, as well as to educating communities about the importance of a healthy environment. For the last 15 years, the organization Ulew Che' Ja' has spearheaded efforts to protect the forests and watershed and has gotten thousands of people involved in the along the way.
This is precisely the kind of grassroots work that the Global Greengrants Fund has been supporting around the world for the last 17 years. Based in Boulder, Greengrants has provided Ulew Che' Ja' with several grants, the most recent in support of "chemical and bacterial analysis and monitoring of 21 potable water systems," and for organizing a community education workshop on healthy water resource management.
Greengrants describes some of the other accomplishments by Ulew Che' Ja' over the last few years: "They've also mapped out over 1,200 water sources in the forest and painstakingly built small cement boxes around each of them - all numbered and locked - in order to protect the pristine waters. Downstream, this water is carried through pipes to communities as far as 13km away using an impressive distribution system built entirely by local communities and without the help of government or private utilities."
Another =Mali]grantee this year is Cercle de D
The same organization received a grant in 2005 to support a women's group working to increase women's access to land in the mining zones and to train women leaders and other officials about the environmental consequences of mining, which range from cyanide-polluted water to abandoned piles of toxic solid waste.
The photos here show a subsistence gold mine in Mali (above), and the fruits of a reforestation and agroforestry effort in the same region (below).
Near the southern end of the continent, the Farmers Forum for Trade and Social Justice in Malawi is =Malawi"]receiving a grant to establish a community-based "watchdog of environmental justice." The focus will be on establishing community laws to safeguard trees, increasing sustainable agriculture practices among 900 farmers, and fostering strategies to ensure those practices are profitable
The list of Greengrants grantees and the incredibly important work that they all are doing is endless, but the model for how these grantees are chosen is just as impressive.
A unique approach
Unsolicited grant applications are not accepted. Greengrants relies on a network of global and regional advisors to identify the greatest areas of need and the most promising groups on the ground working to fill those needs. The model enables individuals who best understand local needs, cultures, and capacity to determine the best causes to support at a given time, and it helps donors to fund worthwhile efforts that they know, without having to visit the sites themselves, are reliable and effective.
One of the most recent additions to this network is a Southern Africa Advisor: Peter Sinkamba, a longtime environmental activist in Zambia who contributed to the country's National Policy on the Environment, helped to ensure environmental rights for citizens were incorporated into the Zambian Republican Constitution, and founded Citizens for a Better Environment. He is sure to be a valuable asset for Greengrants and for the region, and the organization's announcement came just as the nation is working to boost agriculture and reduce the country's dependence on mining
The organization has supported Paul McAuley, a British activist fighting oil and gas development in Peru
I could go on, but it's best to browse the site yourself: learn more about the various projects that Greengrants has enabled to thrive in all areas of the world, how you can lend your support to these projects
