”In the rainforest where I live, there has been little to celebrate in recent years. My home has grown smaller, my horizons likewise. My larder has grown emptier, and my neighbours more scarce. The noise of new things has smothered the birdsong, and I wonder if more change is coming? I am living in what they call the Anthropecene, the age of humans – and my future is in the balance.
“Every day, my office phone rings almost non-stop. Calls from farmers, communities, NGOs, schools, journalists, businessmen, park visitors ... and so it goes on. Game parks and wildlife are big in this country. Why? Because they are such a dominant feature of our land – nearly 50 percent of our land surface in Namibia falls either within national protected areas or communal or private conservancies. When you visit my country, you will see wildlife roaming freely almost everywhere.
“Saïda government hospital was established in December 2006 following the war in Lebanon. I came on board as a maintenance engineer back then, and was in charge of completing maintenance checks, both preventive and corrective. Electricity supply in Lebanon was highly unreliable then, and we had to rely heavily on diesel generators – a hospital cannot provide proper medical care without hot water and electricity.
“In 1988, William Conway, then General Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, wrote a chapter in a popular book under the title “A Cold Sea River”. In it, he described the spectacular concentrations of wildlife on the coast of Patagonia in Southern Argentina – including the Magellanic penguins, southern elephant seals, South American sea lions and southern right whales – and he wrote about the mighty Falklands-Malvinas marine current, the ‘cold sea river,’ that is the lifeblood of the Southwest Atlantic ecosystem that nourishes this rich biological diversity.
“The company that I run has over 50 years of experience in the energy sector. At Energoremont, we have a strong technical base and human resources, but we had never thought of extending our services beyond the repair of power stations, substations and electrical works – which had always been our core business. This all changed dramatically when we became partners in the GEF-funded project on technology transfer and market development for small-hydropower. The project opened new horizons of thinking and business possibilities for me personally, and my company.
“Belarus used to be described as the ‘land of mires’ . My childhood was spent surrounded on all sides by mires (peatlands) and woods . As a young boy, I would go hunting with my father and older brother, and cranberry-picking with my mother and the women from the village . These formative years spent in the countryside determined my choice of path in life. After leaving school, I went to Minsk, where I enrolled at the biology faculty of the university. My first interest was in waterfowl and it was through this that I became interested in wetlands and peatlands
Nowhere else is the inextricable connection between people’s well-being, economic prosperity and the environment clearer than on small islands. Since its inception, the GEF has been a strong partner and supporter of environmental programmes that promote sustainable development in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as the Republic of Seychelles.
“As a responsible global shipping carrier, APL is dedicated to protecting ocean biodi- versity. With ballast water identified as a major threat to the world’s marine ecosystems as a key vector for invasive species transfer, effective ballast water management (BWM) has been a hot topic of discussion among the global shipping industry and scientific community over the years.
“The Galápagos islands occupy a special place in the minds of people – what other place can claim to have had such an influence on the way we think about our natural world? Our island ecosystems are unique, not only because of emblematic species like the iguanas, tortoises and finches, but also because they are so isolated, unusual and fragile. At the same time, these islands are a premier tourist destination for wildlife viewing and diving, and this is an essential pillar of our economy – along with the farming and fishing that sustains our communities.
“I have lived here in these mountains for my whole life. Like my father, and his father before him, I am a herdsman and I graze my animals here in the Toolaylyg and Barlyk River valleys. My brother Boris lives nearby and we help each other look after our sheep, goats, yaks and horses.
