Last month Heifer staff and participants around the world celebrated World Environment Day, the United Nation’s day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment.
As part of the World Environment Day celebration, Heifer Nicaragua, Nicacentro Cooperative and the mayor office of Matiguas gave mahogany and cocoa trees to families.
Families planted 100 mahogany trees in Varsovia Community and 100 cocoa trees in communities in Matiguas. In this city, the varieties of mahogany and cocoa trees serve to reforest and as water sources.
Marvelly Calero, 35, said this initiative not only helps to reforest and to improve the environment, but also helps to increase the families’ incomes because their cows produce better quality milk when they walk under shade.
Heifer Malawi commemorated the day in early June along with other civil, religious and academic organizations; governmental departments and donors. The celebration allowed Heifer Malawi to highlight training it uses to help lift people out of poverty while caring for the Earth. They reviewed livestock production, energy-saving technology, agroforestry and feed conservation, along with manure making, use and products.
Malawi President Peter Mutharika simultaneously launched a national 2016 World Environmental Day with these thoughts: "Most of us remember children floating in flooding rivers with school bags strapped on their backs,” he said. “We remember mothers and their children being buried by houses where they sought safety. We remember the sun setting the maize fields on fire that should have fed us and our children. Now, we remember that this is the time we must join the fight to make the world a better place. It is time for everyone to act. And it’s everyone’s responsibility."
Now, we remember that this is the time we must join the fight to make the world a better place. It is time for everyone to act. And it’s everyone’s responsibility.Malawi President Peter Mutharika
Heifer Philippines collaborated with local organizations and government offices to host a celebration that included planting Moringa trees, a recycling contest, a poster-making contest and addresses from local leaders educating the community about climate change and encouraging everyone to be proactive when it comes to protecting the environment. To follow up the celebration, Heifer Philippines is promoting tree planting by giving 300 Moringa seedlings per district and about 250 seedlings to the schools.
Heifer India inaugurated a nursery Lunkaranser, a town in an arid where access to water is difficult and getting ahold of green plants was previously not feasible. Owned by a federation of women farmers, the nursery can manage 10,000 saplings and has a storage tank that holds nearly 5,300 gallons of water.
Heifer India is also raising nurseries with capacity to manage more than 50,000 trees with six partners in Orissa to better the environment and change the system of traditional goat rearing into a modern, efficient system.
Top photo by Francesco Gallarotti, via Unsplash.
