The Waterloo Foundation has provided Excellent Development with a grant to enable them to work with communities in Kenya to build and maintain small-scale sand dams in seasonal dry river beds.
Sand dams are one of the most cost effective ways known of conserving water. Water is stored under sand that collects behind the dam, protecting it from both evaporation and from animals and parasites.
Sand dam projects provide clean year-round water for drinking, cooking and farming, as well as for setting up tree nurseries and providing education on sustainable agriculture techniques.
A typical project involves building 1-5 dams, terracing land, setting up a tree nursery, setting up a community seed bank and undertaking workshops and exchanges and can directly benefit up to 1,200 people. |
The Global Canopy Programme (GCP) established in 2001, is a UK registered Charity which co-ordinates, develops and funds the world’s largest network of canopy scientists and organizations, (38 institutions in 19 countries), with a focus on biodiversity, ecosystem research and sustainable use of forest canopies.
Forests have recently been thrust to the fore of Climate Change debate because of the huge contribution that burning forests makes to the global atmospheric carbon budget. As a response to this in 2007 GCP, with support from The Waterloo Foundation launched its Forests Now Declaration, which has so far received the endorsement of 300 forest leaders, scientists, conservationists, NGOs and business leaders including 3 heads of state and 2 Nobel Laureates. The Declaration calls on the World’s governments to take action on deforestation in the tropics and sub-tropics, which causes around 20% of global carbon emissions, and was successful in influencing negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change conference in Bali (Dec. 2007) to include forests in future climate change mitigation efforts.
Whilst GCP policy work is very important and influential we still maintain roots in science and have as such a range of practical projects on the ground: a selection of GCP’s recent achievements in other fields;
- Developed a global project to define, measure and economically value the ecosystem services provided by forests;
- Created and begun implementing a mechanism that will facilitate and encourage private investment in forests;
- World’s First photographs and video footage of the rarest cats in Borneo
To learn more about the work of the Global Canopy Programme please visit their website at www.globalcanopy.org |
