Livelihoods

Il y a un an, Livelihoods  était créé autour d’un pari ambitieux : créer un lien entre lutte contre la pauvreté et changement climatique. Avec une volonté : soutenir l’action de communautés rurales qui se pour sauver leur environnement et assurer  leur sécurité alimentaire.

Un an après, où en sommes-nous ?  Quelles sont les premières réalisations de Livelihoods ? Venez rencontrer ces hommes et ces femmes qui font Livelihoods autour de nos projets en Inde, au Sénégal, au Congo, en Indonésie, etc.

By Bernard Giraud, President of Livelihoods Venture

Our partner Haidar El Ali, President of the NGO Oceanium has just been appointed Minister of Environment and Ecology of the Government of Senegal, formed following the recent presidential election of Macky Sall.

Beautiful symbol for all who are engaged in action for Africa to preserve its natural resources for the benefit of local people and future generations. Haidar is a man of vision and a tireless campaigner. Professional diver, he came to the ecology noting the havoc on the marine environment of certain fishing practices. Very quickly, he realized that nothing could change if the fishermen themselves were not sensitized and implicated. This philosophy of action "with and through" local communities is at the heart of the action and the success of Oceanium.

By Christian de Perthuis

Christian de Perthuis is professor of economics at Dauphine University in Paris, and Director of the Climate Economics Chair, a think-tank focusing on shaping economics to fight agains climate change. He is also a member of the Livelihoods Advisory Board. The short text that follows is the English translation of a lecture he made at the French Academy of Moral Sciences and Politics - to which the original transcript in French can be found here  Adaptation to Climate Change. 

In this lecture Christian raises the often neglected issue of adaptation to climate change, not just mitigation. Until fairly recently the international debate on climate change was very much focused on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Now that it is obvious that action against climate change will not be sufficient to avoid a certain degree of change to the climate as we know it, adaptation has emerged as a hot debate. As Christian points out, adaptation is not only an issue for poorer countries, but is also a great threat to richer economies. Enjoy the read.

By Scott Bolick, Vice President, Sustainability Solution Management, SAP

I am often asked about the changes that I have seen in the sustainability market since SAP formally launched its efforts in early 2009. It is clear that sustainability has and will continue to rise in importance as mega-trends create pricing pressures on energy and other resources; product safety regulations expand across all regions; financial analysts begin to look at sustainability in company valuations; and stakeholders leverage social media to drive more sustainable behavior.

The Ramsar Convention one of the major Livelihoods partners since its inception has published with World Health Organization (WHO) a report on conservation and protection of wetlands.

The report

Just published jointly by the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention and WHO, this report provides advice to wetland managers and decision-makers on the range of complex issues concerning wetland conservation, and protecting and promoting human health and well-being. It considers wetland ecosystem services and products as well as the sustainability factor wetlands provide to livelihoods and socio-economics conditions.