Pixels, Plots and People - Adapted for Panama

/
Recently, I wrote a blog post for the World Bank about including Indigenous Peoples in the measuring of forest carbon monitoring. Although Planting Empowerment doesn't operate REDD projects (nor plans to), we do think it is important for Indigenous Peoples to understand their assets so they can make better decisions.
Read More

On "Forests vs. Food?"

/

On February 7th TIME magazine posted an article on their website entitled Forests Vs. Food?. The piece examines the relationship between deforestation and rising food prices.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global food prices have reached record peaks this year, and are expected to keep rising. They attribute this rise to increased demand for resource-intensive products such as beef, and poor farming conditions leading to reduced yields in agriculture-producing countries.

Read More

New York Times profiles African land grabs (2 of 2)

/
This is part two of our response to the New York Times article entitled African Farmers Displaced as Investors Move In. In the first part, we explored how land right affects your investment with us. Now we'll look at how different definitions of productive land use is driving development in our partner community Arimae.
Read More

New York Times profiles African land grabs (1 of 2)

/

The December 21st New York Times story, African Farmers Displaced as Investors Move In, examines the trend of land acquisition in Africa by foreign governments and corporations.

This is a complex subject involving issues of food security, ethics, politics, and capital markets, among others. While Africa's situation is different than Latin America's, there are some parallels to be drawn from the story.

A topic as controversial as land rights merits two separate blog posts. Here in the first, we'll explore how land rights pertains to our business, and how that affects your investment with us. The next post will go into more depth as the topic relates to our indigenous partner Arimae.

Read More

Indigenous peoples' informed voices critical in Cancún

/

Board Member Chris Meyer weighs in Indigenous Peoples, REDD, and forests from the Cancun UN climate change negotiations:

A indigenous youth in Arimae harvests mamonesA indigenous youth in Arimae harvests mamones. Click for a larger viewIndigenous Peoples are gaining ground in the international negotiations on climate change, especially negotiations on REDD. However, there is more that can be done nationally and internationally.

COONAPIP, the national organization of Indigenous Peoples of Panama is here in Cancun with Panama country badges. Thus, they can attend the closed meetings and are expected to be helping the Panamanian government delegates form their strategies.

For the full story, check out this post written for the Environmental Defense Fund on Indigenous Peoples' participation in the negotiation.