In the Pastures of Colombia, Cows, Crops, and Timber Coexist

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/in_the_pastures_of_colombia_cows_crops_and_timber_coexist/2746

Lisa Palmer

Yale Environment 360

13 March 2014

Text / 1500-3000 Words

Colombia’s National Development Plan for cattle ranching seeks to reduce pasture land from 94 million acres to 70 million acres while increasing cattle numbers from 23 million head to 40 million. The program focuses on planting trees on grazing land and the "cut and carry method," whereby farmers grow fields of shrubs and distribute the fresh cuttings to cows in pastures. The result is greater cattle productivity and a more eco-friendly farming system.

To everyone's surprise, forests are returning to Malawi. Here's why.

http://www.ensia.com/photos/to-everyones-surprise-forests-are-returning-to-malawi-heres-why

Didem Tali

Ensia

26 May 2015

Photojournalism / Under 800 Words

The people of Malawi count on wood for cooking, cleaning, and sanitation, which contributes to the country’s ranking as fifth highest in the world for deforestation. Once thought unsolvable, the people of the country are planting trees, benefiting from water filters, and using efficient cookstoves.

'No one leaves anymore'. How Ethiopia's restored drylands offer hope

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/aug/03/ethiopia-restored-drylands-migration-eroded-deforested

Cathy Watson

The Guardian

3 August 2016

Text / 800-1500 Words

Environmental refugees in Ethiopia flee their country because there are no jobs without healthy land. A group of former refugees have returned to Ethiopia with a business venture in Gergera to improve the land by regreening efforts, foresting, and building water conservation systems. The new businesses demonstrated such positive effects that the region is now on the brink of resettlement due to improved environmental conditions.

Seeds of Commerce: Saving Native Plants in the Heart of Appalachia

http://e360.yale.edu/features/commerce-saving-native-plants-appalachia-black-cohosh-climate-change

Nancy Averett

Yale Environment 360

2 March 2017

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As climate change continues to threaten the survival of native plants species and the health of the eco-systems they support, the North Carolina Arboretum’s Germplasm Repository is taking a clever new approach to the preservation of native plant seeds: pushing to capitalize on their commercial value. Plant physiologists like Joe-Ann McCoy know that the best method for saving many species may also create jobs and boost local economies, when businesses start leveraging the medicinal uses of native plants for products like herbal supplements.

These Tree-Planting Drones Are About To Start An Entire Forest From The Sky

https://www.fastcompany.com/40450262/these-tree-planting-drones-are-about-to-fire-a-million-seeds-to-re-grow-a-forest

Adele Peters

FastCompany

10 August 2017

Text / 800-1500 Words

Villages along the Irrawaddy River delta in Myanmar have spent years replanting mangroves in at attempt to restore their ecosystem and guard against the negative effects of climate change, but it is a labor intensive and time-consuming process. Now, with the help of specially-designed tree planting drones from startup BioCarbon Engineering, as many as 10,000 trees can be planted in a single day, using technology that not only distributes seeds in special pods, but is able to calculate optimal soil conditions, locations, and species of tree most likely to survive in any given area.

As hundreds of golf courses close, nature gets a chance to make a comeback

https://ensia.com/features/golf-courses

Travis Wood

Ensia

8 November 2017

Text / 800-1500 Words

More golf courses are closing than are opening, allowing the rare opportunity to have open space in an urban environment. Restorations are becoming popular to allow wildlife and humans to make use of the natural space through the encouragement of different animals and plants to inhabit the same area as well as the development of parks and bike paths to foster human use.

Reclaiming Appalachia: A Push to Bring Back Native Forests to Coal Country

http://e360.yale.edu/features/reclaiming-appalachia-a-push-to-bring-back-native-forests-to-coal-country

Elizabeth McGowan

Yale Environment 360

14 December 2017

Text / 1500-3000 Words

Tearing down trees to save a forest? While that may not sound like a solution, it could in fact be the key to restoring the former forest that inhabited the Appalachian region in the Eastern United States. “Ripping so deep might seem extreme, but it’s the only way to give these native trees a chance,” says Chris Barton, co-founder of non-profit Green Forests Works and a professor specializing in forest hydrology and watershed management, by means of explaining the ongoing effort he and other researchers, scientists and non-profits are making to reclaim native forests in this region.

In India, Agroforestry Is a Win for Both Tigers and Villagers

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/in-india-agroforestry-is-a-win-for-both-tigers-and-villagers

Cathy Watson

Scientific American

1 February 2018

Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words

Agroforestry, is the practice of planting trees around crops, which can yield many benefits to farmers and the environment. In India, agroforestry is helping tigers stay alive.

'I used to see them as a bunch of rioters': Brazil's radical farmers

https://www.theguardian.com/working-in-development/2018/jan/25/bunch-of-rioters-brazil-radical-farmers-agroforestry

Ignacio Amigo

The Guardian

25 January 2018

Text / 800-1500 Words

In Brazil, 45% of agriculturally viable land is owned by 1% of tenants. To combat this inequitable ratio, the Landless Workers’ Movement formed and took a stand for seizing lands that are "not fulfilling a productive or social use." The group successfully reclaimed an area known as Mario Lago and has since begun a reforestation process alongside agroforestry which has allowed for an increase in diversity of food produced. The farmers haven't stopped there, however. To sell their produce, they have implemented a system of turning the consumer into a co-producer thus ensuring economic stability.

China's Crazy Plan to Keep Sand From Swallowing the World

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/08/china-plants-billions-of-trees-in-the-desert

Vince Beiser

Mother Jones

1 October 2017

Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words

Overfarming, over-grazing, climate change and population growth are all to blame for turning Duolun County in China's Inner Mongolia region into a bigger desert than it was to begin with. With 87 percent of the area turned into desert, sandstorms began to be the norm and would often engulf the neighboring region of Beijing. The Duolun project attempts to stop this by embarking on a tree-planting mission. Not without it's limitations and criticisms, this solution is by no means perfect, but it's somewhat of a start that has seen Duolun reportedly increase to 31 percent forested land.