Volunteers plant mini-forests in Paris to slow climate change, tackle heatwaves

The Nusantra Fund provides financial support directly to community-led projects in Indonesia. The aim is to improve the livelihoods of Indigenous and local people while tackling climate change impacts and protecting biodiversity.

In Brazil, the Friends of the Amazon Forest Institute is using the Miyawaki method in its reforestation projects to see fast results. The method requires planting several species of native trees randomly in organic soil and then allowing nature to run its course with little-to-no human intervention.

A collaboration between tree-planting organizations in Washington D.C. helps Catholic church properties to plant and care for trees. The free trees are an effort to combat urban heat and benefit the local environment.

The community on St. Helena’s two-decade reforestation initiative is successfully revitalizing rare native species through a community-driven approach. The project began with the intention to create a public place for island residents and that sense of ownership has allowed the project to keep moving forward despite obstacles.

The nonprofit Bees in the D maintains 220 beehives at schools, businesses, and other nonprofits it partners with across Detroit. They are bringing bees back to the city to pollinate urban gardens and support the local ecosystem.

Environmental advocates got 1.75 million signatures to change Bavarian farming laws to protect biodiversity. The Save the Bees Campaign calls for using subsidies to nearly triple the amount of organic farming, creating a network of wildlife corridors, and other actions to protect bird and insect life. Initial results show that, since the law took effect, the share of organic farmland increased and thousands of more acres of forest have been protected. Farmers have also adjusted their view of productivity, including protecting nature as a way to be productive. Similar efforts are happening across Europe.

A researcher in Tasmania is working to create climate-resilient “super-kelp” that could survive in its new climate along the coastline and help absorb carbon to prevent it from being released into the atmosphere. Other conservationists around the world are using different techniques to revitalize its diminishing kelp forests. In California, they have hand-cleared 52 acres of invasive purple urchins from the seas to bring back its kelp forest. While kelp can be tricky to work with, rebuilding these forests is one way to combat climate change.

El Jardín Botánico Real convirtió un antiguo colegio en Ciudad Bolívar en un espacio comunitario con 600 especies nativas que resignifica el territorio estigmatizado, educa ambientalmente a estudiantes locales y crea un lugar de encuentro seguro en un barrio con escasez crítica de áreas verdes.

In Phoenix's historically Black neighborhoods, community organizations have transformed vacant, heat-trapping lots into thriving urban farms. One initiative, Spaces of Opportunity, converted a 19-acre abandoned site into a community farm with 250 garden plots available. Spaces of Opportunity serves over 1,000 residents each month, and other community farming initiatives also help in providing food and jobs for participants, many of whom are formerly incarcerated or unhoused.

Ecosia, a nonprofit search engine that uses its profits to support tree-planting initiatives, is working with the Jane Goodall Institute Austria to grow 200,000 trees in Uganda. The organizations work with communities to design the projects around their needs and then support locals through the process of growing trees.