Looking to the Past to Inspire the Future of Cocoa Agroforestry in Ghana
There are few places on earth where I feel more relaxed, refreshed and joyful than when walking through cocoa farms in Ghana. While many people might choose pristine beaches or alpine mountains as places of earthly repose or invigoration, I’ve always found a real haven under the canopy of cocoa trees. I love the rhythm […]
Interview with Rita Botha, Project Manager at the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR)
Rita Botha is the project manager at the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR) for the Goukou Resilient Rivers Projects and the Gouritz Ecological Corridor Project. Rita trained as an attorney at law as well as an archaeologist. Rita is an admitted attorney and conveyancer who specialised in property law. After 11 years in the legal […]
Achieving Landscape-scale Ecological Restoration
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. African proverb We need to go a long way, we need to go together; and, as the recent COP26 confirmed – with a sense of urgency. We have to quickly find a way to change; to increase awareness about […]
NatureBank: New N4J Partner
Interview with Cornelia Rindt Lisa Cloete (LC): 1. Thank you for joining us today Cornelia. Can you tell us a bit more about the work you do at NatureBank? Cornelia Rindt (CR): I am the Director for Domestic Land Use for NatureBank and what that means is that I look after the development of our […]
Interview with Kristine Zeigler: Climate Leadership — Gender Balance Matters
To cap our month of featuring women leaders, we interviewed Kristine Zeigler, CEO of the new organization Planet Women. This is the second article featuring Kristine, previously we published, “It’s Time To Put Women in Charge Of Saving The Planet.” Lisa Cloete (LC): Kristine, thank you for joining us. Your mission is to ‘combine the […]
Interview with April Jones: Women Led Engagement with BIPOC Farmers
Farming for the Future: April Jones Faced with a changing climate, the need has never been greater to adopt farming practices that care for the planet and provide resilience to those who farm. Sustainable agriculture combines three necessary aspects for thriving communities: environmental health, economic profitability, and social equity which if done properly lays the […]
Commercializing Indigenous Plants in a Climate Impacted World
My passion is the sustainable commercialisation of Southern African indigenous plant resources to generate positive social, economic and environmental benefits. When the Southern African Natural Products Trade Association (SANProTA) was formed in 2000 there were no organisations supporting and representing the sector for producers of baobab fruit or marula oil. PhytoTrade Africa, as the association […]
Cloud Forest Organics — Restorative Approach to Agribusiness: Part II
This project is about white spectacled bears. And pure high Amazon water. And about Porotón: a protein rich leguminous tree that is native to Andes cloud forests and thrives in agroforestry systems. What if, together with cattle ranchers and farmers, we could create an income-generating regenerative agroforestry system that actively restores disappearing cloud forests, rebuilds […]
Radically Changing Business in Vulnerable Andean Cloud Forests: Part I
“We strongly believe that the protection of forests, the lives of local families, and their connection to the outside world are not separate but are deeply intertwined,” Wain Collen, Executive Director, Los Aliados Andean cloud forests are the most diverse and fragile cloud forests on earth. Many consider this ecosystem the world’s greatest conservation priority […]
Nature For Justice and Cultivo:
A Common Vision
We aspire to be a leader in using nature-based solutions to achieve social justice for communities affected by the climate crisis. The Nature For Justice (N4J) team brings decades of experience in promoting rural economic development, finding a path for business to be mindful of environmental issues, addressing the need for justice, equity and social […]
Sustainable Solutions Come From Those On The Ground
“At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity.” – Chico Mendes Earlier this year, at a time when life was yet unscathed by COVID, I traveled to a small city in the Brazilian […]
Looking to the Past to Inspire the Future of Cocoa Agroforestry
There are few places on earth where I feel more relaxed, refreshed and joyful than when walking through cocoa farms in Ghana. While many people might choose pristine beaches or alpine mountains as places of earthly repose or invigoration, I’ve always found a real haven under the canopy of cocoa trees. I love the rhythm […]
