Planting Empowerment published in WorldView Magazine

I recently wrote an opinion piece for the Winter issue of WorldView magazine that explores the development challenges we faced as Peace Corps Volunteers and how we engage impact investing to help us meet those challenges.

Impact investing is investing with the goal of earning a return while actively generating social and/or environmental benefits. Expected to reach $4 billion in 2012, the market is growing and maturing as more investors align their financial and social/environmental goals, and standards are put into place to measure performance.

While the article may stir controversy among our development colleagues, there is no denying the growth of impact investing. We believe that the forest investments we offer can drive social empowerment in our partner communities and ease pressure on surrounding rainforests.

Download the article (PDF, 927 kb)

UNDP Publishes Arimae Case Study

Arimae's native tree species nursery The UNDP-GEF’s Small Grants Programme recently published a case study on Arimae’s sustainable agroforestry project.

The piece highlights the three main components of the project, which Arimae conceived as a way to explore sustainable economic alternatives:

• Seed collection from native trees and nursery planting
• A carbon analysis of 500 hectares Arimae’s reserve
• Reforestation with a mix of native timber and fruit species

Planting Empowerment played a role by helping to manage the project and providing technical support. The project is generating social and environmental impacts by offsetting carbon and providing jobs and training to Arimae community members.

We expect to build on this success by facilitating agroforestry projects with other communities and incorporating that experience into our own operations.

Download the case study (PDF, 2.3MB)

Is Humanitarian Design the New Imperialism?

Thanks to our friend and former Peace Corps Panama volunteer Matt Gilbride for co-authoring this post. Matt is currently finishing his graduate work in Industrial Design at NC State University. Check out some of his work.

As Planting Empowerment expands in Panama’s Darien province, we find ourselves examining the questions raised by Bruce Nussbaum in his July 7th, 2010 Fast Company article.

The author poses a powerful question to all those engaged in humanitarian development and design: “Is Humanitarian Design the New Imperialism?” As former Peace Corps volunteers ourselves (and two of us with design experience) we have some perspective on Nussbaum’s article.

Click to read more ...

Planting Empowerment featured in UNDP Report

The UNDP recently released a report entitled Latin America and the Carribean: A Biodiversity Superpower.

The report aims to "... assess and communicate the economic contribution of biodiversity and ecosystems services to development and equity in the region."

One of the UNDP's case studies features Planting Empowerment's innovative tenure model for forestry and development.

Click to read more ...

Community Forestry in the NY Times

Planting Empowerment employee Liriano Opua demonstrates the growth of a 1-yr. cocobolo tree. Click for a larger view.A couple of months ago we did a post on a Mexican indigenous community, the model of well-managed community forestry and business in Latin America.

The New York Times did a profile on the same community the other day. The long term vision of Planting Empowerment is to replicate this model not only in Panama, but throughout the rest of Latin America.

We are making progress towards this goal, as we have seen our indigenous community partner of Arimae take increasing ownership of the UNDP-GEF SGP funded project.