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  DONATE TELL YOUR FRIENDS SUBSCRIBE   SEP/OCT 2007 • ISSUE 13

IN THIS ISSUE

Ecotourism in El Cacao, Honduras - A Community In Charge  >

Discussion on Cameroon's Timber Industry  >

Director's Corner  >

Upcoming Events  >

MORE ARTICLES ONLINE...

Caroline Hartnell of Alliance Magazine Interviews Uday Khemka  >

Alliance Magazine Article Features Our Advisors Nnimmo Bassey and Wen Bo  >

General Assembly Adopts Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples  >

Washington Monthly Article on China's Fastest Growing Citizen Movement  >

Ecotourism in El Cacao, Honduras - A Community In Charge

Tourism is growing by leaps and bounds in Honduras and the small village of El Cacao with its mangrove lined lagoon provides sightseers a taste of the backwoods beauty of the northern Caribbean coast. Outside agencies from the nearby tourist mecca, La Ceiba, lead visitors willing to pay top dollar to experience this beauty, but who leave no economic benefit from their visit. Community members of El Cacao have banded together with the help of a small grant from Greengrants to begin their own ecotourism project - a new future full of opportunities. Read More  >

Discussion on Cameroon's Timber Industry

Samuel Nnah Ndobe, a member of our Greengrants International Financial Institutions (IFI) Advisory Board, is an advocate for proper legislation and enforcement of forestry laws in Cameroon. His organization, the Center for Environment and Development (CED), publishes reports highlighting the corrupt management of the forests, and manages projects to protect the rights of indigenous communities. Earlier in 2007, Samuel sat down with Chris Allan, Director of Programs for Greengrants, to discuss the timber industry's impacts on indigenous people in Cameroon. Read More  >
DIRECTOR'S CORNER

Last week I was lucky enough to travel to New Mexico for the Environmental Grantmakers Association Conference (EGA) with Nnimmo Bassey, Greengrants Nigerian advisor on our West African board. It had been two years since I'd seen Nnimmo, and a lot has happened in the Niger Delta during that time. After more than two decades of community resistance, the landmark court case against Shell Oil is about to have its biggest test - a January deadline to cease all gas flaring in Nigeria. Shell has said that it will not comply, and so comes a test of everyone's resolve: Shell's, the new Nigerian government's, and all the community groups and advocacy organizations who have pushed the issue this far.

In early August, Mohan Natarajan, our Director of Finance and Administration, went to the Niger Delta to attend the inaugural meeting of the Host Communities Network, an organization created to provide a resource for community-based organizations whose lives have been impacted by extractive industry. You can read all about it in Observations in Nigeria. There's also a recent article from Nigeria press.

The future is looking cautiously bright for the Niger Delta and we will continue to lend our support there as communities navigate these new waters of a fragile democracy. I, too, am wading a bit into unknown waters. I've accepted the honor of chairing the International Committee for the Council on Foundations. The committee's focus is to find new ways to enhance the effectiveness of international philanthropy and build strong new relationships with overseas organizations to support emerging philanthropic activity. It's a goal we all share at Greengrants, and I look forward to contributing. Let me know if there are any thoughts that you would like me to carry there.

For now, I hope you enjoy our new electronic Greengrants Journal. We'd love to hear your feedback on that, too.

With best wishes,
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