Greengrants Helps Communities Protect Their Environment and Way of Life

•  Print
•  E-mail

February 1, 2009

Global Greengrants Fund supports grassroots efforts, such as those along Kenya’s Malindi coast, that preserve local environmental resources and build sustainable economies.

When commercial prawn fishing threatened the livelihood of communities and marine ecosystem in the Malindi region in Kenya, community members formed the Malindi Marine Association. The Association united local fishermen and community organizations involved in the fishing sector against government corruption and foreign companies. Funding was scarce, so the Association’s activities and outreach were limited. With a $2,000 grant from Global Greengrants, their first external source of funding, this changed. The Association was able to establish an office to centrally coordinate operations, increase its membership, and increase awareness about its mission. The Association then gained the attention of government officials and persuaded them to enact and enforce marine conservation laws.

The Global Greengrants Fund addresses global environmental and social problems by providing grants, typically $500 to $5,000, to grassroots groups in some of the world’s most impoverished places to protect the environment, live sustainably, preserve biodiversity, and gain a voice in their own future. A recent grant from AnJeL Donor Advised Fund at RSF ensures that Greengrants will have the capacity to continue their important work.

Other important projects that Greengrants has successfully funded include: helping coastal villages in New Guinea set up 23 community-managed marine reserves to protect some of the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world; helping residents of a small town in China triumph over a polluting chemical company in court, resulting in reparations and restrictions to protect the town; and helping stop deforestation in Honduras. To date, Greengrants has awarded more than 2,000 small grants worldwide, totaling close to $10 million.

According to Chet Tchozewski, Greengrants director, “RSF has been one of the leaders in realizing that the great advances we now take for granted in the United States—suffrage, civil rights and cleaner air and water—all started as grassroots movements. We are grateful that RSF shares our belief that the best solutions to environmental problems often originate at the grassroots by the people most affected by pollution and degraded lands and waters.”

For more information, please visit their website at www.greengrants.org.

• Published by Jillian McCoy
• Categories: Donor Advised Funds, Ecological Stewardship, Giving
• • One Comment
  • Permalink
  •