Each year Global Greengrants Fund makes over 700 grants to environmental activists around the world, helping to support grassroots initiatives to protect the planet and the rights of the people who call these natural places home. We wish we could share every single story. Below are a few grants made recently that we’d like to highlight.
Canada: Upholding the Oil Tanker Ban for the Great Bear Rainforest
Back in February, we wrote about the landmark conservation deal that will protect 9.1 million acres of irreplaceable temperate forest in British Columbia known as The Great Bear Rainforest. We noted that this deal was a wonderful victory, but that the struggle for recognition of First Nations rights and environmental protection continues. For over a decade, an alliance of indigenous groups called Coastal First Nations has been at the forefront of developing an economy much less reliant on logging and extractive industries on the coast of British Columbia. It also advocates for shared decision-making over traditional lands and waters, which are threatened by the construction of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline, which would transport 525,000 barrels of oil per day, severely impacting the local environment. With support from Global Greengrants, the alliance’s Great Bear Initiative will work with environmental NGOs and other partners to assess the best course of action for upholding the oil-tanker ban for the Great Bear Rainforest and develop a strategic plan. The timing is crucial: Canada’s federation elections in mid-October could influence whether or not the Northern Gateway Pipeline will be built.
Uganda: Helping Women Improve Water and Sanitation Systems
In the Gomba district of Uganda, only 42 percent of people have access to clean water, which women and children have to walk 3 miles to retrieve. Many local women don’t know their rights to work and own property; only 5 percent of Gomba’s women control land resources. The Uganda Women’s Water Initiative promotes gender equity and empowers women to build their skills and knowledge in health and sustainable development. With $3,000 from Global Greengrants, the group will work with women in Gomba to improve water access and sanitation. It will construct and install two rain-water harvesting systems and will provide eight BioSand water filters for area schools. Along with promoting a community hygiene education campaign, the Uganda Women’s Water Initiative will train a group of 20 local women to construct, manage, monitor, and evaluate these systems. By helping local women learn to work with local techniques and materials, the group will address not only sanitation and hygiene issues, but also issues of women’s empowerment and gender equity.
Lebanon: Youth Activists Calling on the Government to Invest in Renewable Energy
Years of civil war and political instability have led Lebanon’s energy sector to be characterized by endemic corruption, a weak and unreliable energy grid, high electricity costs, widespread pollution, and an overdependence on fossil fuels. The Arab Youth Climate Movement Lebanon is a people’s movement across the Middle East and North Africa that works to solve the climate crisis and promote a more sustainable, prosperous, meaningful, and just world. With $4,459 from Global Greengrants, the group will support and mobilize activists to demand the Lebanese government invest in renewable energy and move to a future of 100 percent renewable energy. The organization will host two workshops on renewable energy, one focused on policy and the other on technology. These workshops, combined with a series of monthly “World Café” events, where interested participants can connect with experts, will help activists make renewable energy a regular part of broader conversations about climate change and the environment.
Mali: Women Challenging Pesticides and GMOs
In Mali, chemical pesticides and genetically modified organisms have taken the place of much healthier organic practices. This has resulted not only in serious damage to the soil and a loss of nutritional value in crops, but has also caused local farmers to become dependent on these products in order to survive. Woiyo Kondeye is an organization supporting community and women’s groups working in the area of sustainable development in Mali. With $3,498 from Global Greengrants, Woiyo Kondeye will work with the women of Korokoro, in southwestern Mali, to enhance their understanding of the risks associated with the use of pesticides and GMOs on people and the environment. The organization will bring together 120 women from rural areas near Korokoro for a seminar on the negative effects of chemical pesticides and GMOs, and healthy alternative practices, such as composting and eco-friendly agriculture. Woiyo Kondeye will also produce a short documentary to help spread the message to a much wider audience.
We believe that solutions for lasting change come from people who face challenges to their environments and rights every day and therefore support community-based projects that make our world safer, healthier, and more just.
Photo: Kris Abrams