Topic: niger

Global Forest Watch 2.0 is a powerful near real-time forest monitoring system that unites satellite technology, data sharing, and human networks around the world to fight deforestation.

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) comes to a close today. In total, more than 100 heads of state and tens of thousands of representatives from government, business, and civil society came together over two weeks to advance solutions on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro.

Challenging climatic conditions, limited arable land, intense population pressures and a history of political upheaval have undermined Niger’s development prospects – 60% of its people live on less than $1 per day. Over the past twenty years, however, Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), in combination with other improved soil and water conservation practices, has helped improve the plight of Nigerien farmers. Local communities are moving from vulnerability towards greater resilience as FMNR brings increased crop production, income and food security to impoverished rural communities.

This piece originally appeared in the Washington Post Environmental Leadership supplement on April 20, 2011, and is reposted with permission.

Climate change poses a major threat to the world’s 2 billion rural poor, but [sustainable natural resource management](node/9837) can help developing countries like Niger adapt to the threat.