## From Brazil to New Zealand, Local Solutions to Climate Change – IMF F&D | DECEMBER 2019 ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [From Brazil to New Zealand, Local Solutions to Climate Change – IMF F&D | DECEMBER 2019](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/12/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/12/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow/index.md) - [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/12/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow/index.json) - [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/12/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow/bundle-manifest.json) ## Bibliographic details - Authors: ASHLIN MATHEW, DAPHNE EWING CHOW, ANNA JAQUIERY, DENISE MARIN, David Smith - Published: December 1, 2019 --- ### Waterman of India — Rajendra Singh (Tarun Bharat Sangh) - Context and scale: - India: 17 percent of the world’s population but just 4 percent of its freshwater resources. - Actions and approach: - Quit civil service in 1983; built first johad in 1985 (15 feet deep and covers one acre). - Enlisted villagers, overcoming caste divisions; used initial funds from selling belongings and donations (truckloads of grain) to pay workers. - Outcomes and impact: - Built more than 11,800 johads. - Helped make 1,200 villages water sufficient. - Organization staffing: 62 full-time employees, 3,000 part-time employees, and more than 10,000 volunteers. - Current project: adaptation to climate change through water management in 30 villages in a district of Rajasthan. - Key beliefs and lessons: - Recharging underground water aquifers helps mitigate climate change by restoring tree growth in drought-stricken regions. - Community-based water-harvesting projects are preferred to large infrastructure projects; “People should take ownership of their water bodies.” ### Saving the Kiokio — Anaa, French Polynesia (Pa‘umotu community, Island Initiative, Raphael Ravieno, Alex Filous) - Context and scale: - Anaa island population: plummeted from 2,000 to 500 after a hurricane in the 1980s. - Problems addressed: - Warming climate encouraging pest populations that threaten copra (coconut) industry. - Overfishing and indiscriminate fishing practices decimating fish stocks; unpredictable spawning seasons due to climate variability. - Actions and approach: - Rejected major hotel development; opted for community-driven, sustainable development. - Established a protected marine educational area. - Retrained fishers for a catch-and-release fly-fishing tourism industry centered on bonefish (kiokio). - Restored the rāhui (traditional ban on fishing during kiokio spawning season) and compensated fisherfolk for income lost during rāhui periods. - Provided guaranteed income to local craftspeople and fly makers via package agreements with foreign tourism providers. - Community outreach: recruited schoolchildren to persuade adults to adopt conservation measures. - Research and evidence: - Fisheries biologist Alex Filous determined spawning stock produced too few viable offspring; female kiokio were being caught in large numbers during spawning season. - Outcomes and rationale: - Approach aligns with Pa‘umotu traditions and brings ecotourism income. - Belief that fly-fishing tourism can resuscitate the small-island economy: “This entire atoll is one giant bonefish paradise.” ### From Sheep to Trees — Marlene and Patrick Anderson (Shannon, New Zealand) - Context and scale: - Property size: 884 hectares. - Location: about an hour and half’s drive northeast of Wellington. - Patrick’s age cited as 80. - Timeline and policy context: - Bought land in 1987; initially used for sheep farming. - From 2001 leased land out for grazing to generate income. - 2007: then–Prime Minister Helen Clark introduced an emission-trading system. - 2008: forestry included in the emission-trading program, allowing landowners to generate revenue from carbon dioxide absorbed by trees planted since 1989. - Actions and approach: - Transitioned from sheep farming to tree planting to regenerate native forest. - Planted a wide range of native trees including kamahi, red beech, and tawa. - Removed cattle from areas to protect stream habitat. - Environmental outcomes: - Stream supports native fish species: banded and short-jawed kokopu (whitebait species), koaro, torrent fish, and red-finned bullies. - Social outcomes: - Family involvement: children engaged in environmental projects; son Luke working on a documentary about rivers; Monique runs a microenterprise producing jams, chutneys, and pickles. ### Fighter for Forests — Clelia Maria Rossi (Juquitiba, Brazil) - Context and scale: - Atlantic Forest historical extent: 1.3 million square kilometers five centuries ago. - Current remaining: only 12 percent. - Juquitiba distance: 80 kilometers to the south of São Paulo. - Rossi bought six hectares of native forest. - Biodiversity on the forested lands: 1,711 vertebrate species, 20,000 varieties of plants, and seven watersheds. - Actions and approach: - Left São Paulo and teaching career five years ago to focus on conservation in Juquitiba. - Fenced property using old fire hoses rather than barbed wire to avoid harming wildlife. - Education and community outreach in rural communities and public schools: activities on garbage separation and treatment, cleaning river banks, planting native seedlings, and non-burning land preparation techniques. - Participated in a citizens group that successfully stopped plans to divert the Juquiá River. - Outcomes and beliefs: - Uses school programs and recreational competitions to instill environmental stewardship in children: “people who learn to love nature as children will grow up to be environmentally friendly adults.” ### A Voice for Lake Chad — Moussa Ali Mouta (Radio Ndarason Internationale, RNI) - Context and scale: - Lake Chad region: environmentally distressed, conflict-ridden (Boko Haram), high illiteracy, high population growth, high unemployment, shrinking lake due to advancing Sahara, rising temperatures, and diminishing rainfall. - RNI launch year: 2016. - Mouta’s age cited as 29. - RNI operations: began in Maiduguri (Nigeria) and N’Djamena (Chad). - Staffing and reach: about 50 mainly Nigerian and Chadian staff and correspondents in Cameroon and Niger. - Problems addressed: - Lack of a regional radio station targeting Lake Chad populations; reliance on foreign-language shortwave broadcasts prior to RNI. - Need to reach local populations in their languages (example: Kanembu). - Actions and approach: - Broadcast news and practical programming in Kanembu and other local languages. - Engaged local audience via telephone, social media, and fieldwork; interviews with local fishers and farmers to share best practices. - Brought agricultural specialists, veterinarians, and UN humanitarian experts into the studio. - Works in partnership with the Lake Chad Basin Commission and with political support of the African Union. - Transmitters located off the Atlantic coast to protect them from attack; shortwave radio remains key given weak infrastructure and instability. - Outcomes and rationale: - RNI provides humanitarian partners an effective regional-radio channel in local languages. - With buy-in from the region’s four national governments and support from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and other donors, radio is being used to stimulate dialogue and promote grassroots solutions: “taking care of our environment is taking care of our future, including the future of our children.” *From Brazil to New Zealand, local activists show that small-scale initiatives can make a difference in the fight against climate change — F&D Magazine, December 2019.* --- ## Content in this bundle - **القاعدة الشعبية** - [القاعدة الشعبية (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/ar/vignettes.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [القاعدة الشعبية (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/ar/vignettes.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **El poder de la comunidad ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Diciembre de 2019** - [El poder de la comunidad ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Diciembre de 2019 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/es/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [El poder de la comunidad ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Diciembre de 2019 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/es/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Initiatives locales** - [Initiatives locales (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/fr/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Initiatives locales (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/fr/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **From Brazil to New Zealand, Local Solutions to Climate Change – IMF F&D | DECEMBER 2019** - [From Brazil to New Zealand, Local Solutions to Climate Change – IMF F&D | DECEMBER 2019 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [From Brazil to New Zealand, Local Solutions to Climate Change – IMF F&D | DECEMBER 2019 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **К истокам – Финансы и развитие – декабрь 2019 года** - [К истокам – Финансы и развитие – декабрь 2019 года (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/ru/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [К истокам – Финансы и развитие – декабрь 2019 года (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/ru/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/12/local-activists-fighting-climate-change-ewing-chow_