Tales of forest financing
Trinidad and Tobago: Saving the Turtles
On the beaches of the twin Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago, turtles have been laying their eggs for millions of years. But in the face of growing threats including hunting for meat, a local villager has taken action to preserve the country’s turtle population. Watch how she mobilised her entire community to develop an ecotourism project to save both the turtles and the coastal forests of western Trinidad.
Togo: Forests in Focus
The nutritional value of moringa, a tree grown across the dry tropics, are immense. When ground into a fine green powder, its leaves can be used as an essential food supplement to combat malnutrition. Efforts are underway not only to increase consumption of moringa in poverty-stricken areas, but also for all farmers to plant the tree in a bid to reduce deforestation across Togo. The UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) Secretariat partnered with the Global Environment Facility, the UN Environment Programme and
Solomon Islands: The Wood for the Trees
Zaira is a tiny, remote community in the Solomon Islands, a group of over a thousand small islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The sea and the forest are the people’s lifeline. In the face of growing interest from outside companies to log surrounding forests, the inhabitants of Zaira have created an eco-tourism initiative to provide an alternative and more sustainable form of financing both forests and their livelihoods.
Solomon Islands: The Wood for the Trees
The forests of the Fergana Valley are treasured for their rich and unique biodiversity, including the largest walnut forest on the planet. These ancient forests also provide a major source of livelihoods to local communities who derive up to a third of their annual income from the short period of harvesting walnuts held every year in October.