Tree roots planted to decontaminate hundreds of wells

A girl drinking purified water in Kalpitiya.
(Photo: UNDP/CWI/SGP)On the Kalpitiya Peninsula, located on Sri Lanka’s western coast, relatively large scale irrigated monoculture agriculture is practiced. The associated heavy use of fertilizers has led to the contamination of farm and domestic wells with nitrates, which poses the risk of methaemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome) and other concerns.

Fishermen abandon devastating fishing practices in Indonesia

Fishermen in the community of Les, in Bali, used poison cyanide to stun and catch the ornamental fish that supplied their livelihood. But, after 15 years of this environmentally damaging practice, the local coral reef was left severely bleached.

“When we used potassium cyanide, we ended up killing many fish, many smaller fish were killed in the process due to overdoses,” said Nengah Arsana, a fisherman from Bali.



UNDP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the Small Grants Programme, by working with local partners and the people of Les developed joint solutions to rehabilitate the coral reef ecosystem in a way that would allow locals to carry on with their traditional life and fishing.

In partnership with local non-governmental organizations Yayasan Bahtera Nusantara and Telapak, villagers were taught how to preserve the coral reef. Twelve community organizers taught their fellow fishermen how to catch ornamental fish without using the cyanide, by using nets. Another 100 men, women and children were trained in simple coral transplantation and biological monitoring. They transplanted 34 species of coral – from donor coral – into a new reef created from rubble and porous cement.

After four years, the coral reef coverage increased from 23 per cent to 40 per cent.

“The fish and reef are in much better condition now,” said Luh Nariasih, Nengah Arsana’s wife, and she added: “Incomes for our household are also good.”

The UNDP and the GEF Small Grants Programme also helped its local partner-grantees to establish a community-owned trading company. The fishermen and traders in the company were trained in fish handling and packaging, and were able to obtain trading and transportation permits to export ornamental fish. The company then started selling its products in Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Israel. Soon families in Les were making steady incomes, of up to USD230 per month.

The successful fusion of environmental, social and trade intervention has made the Les project a model for communities around the world. Only in Indonesia, several provinces, including regions in Bali, West Java, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Papua, have replicated policies and practices from Les.

World Environment Day: Your planet needs you

Green power comes to the province of Xinjiang in northwest China.(Photo: Stephen Shaver)

This year’s World Environment Day finds the world at a critical juncture. Multiple crises are rocking the globe, from the economic and financial to food and energy price volatilities. The have-nots stand to lose the most as the haves scramble to shore up their financial losses and plan for the future.

As the international community charts its way forward through these uncertain times, it is crucial to remember that climate change and ongoing environmental degradation represent a crisis that will not go away. In fact, it will only exacerbate the threats to human development. At the same time, we have a real opportunity to address climate change in a way that promotes economic recovery for countries and their people, including the poorest and most vulnerable. The time has come for a new way to think about how we, as a global community, approach and plan for economic growth and poverty eradication in the face of far-reaching environmental and climatic change.

“The economic and financial turmoil sweeping the globe is a true wake-up call sounding an alarm about the need to improve upon old patterns of growth and make a transition to a new era of greener, cleaner development,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

UNDP estimates that due to climate change effects an additional 600 million people will face food shortages and malnourishment in the coming years, 1.8 billion will struggle to find water and 330 million will be displaced. UNDP is on the ground in developing countries across the world, providing policy and technical assistance to governments and people as they work to mitigate or prevent the rapidly intensifying effects of climate change. For example, in Croatia, UNDP is working with the Government to limit the amount of carbon produced by the building sector, its most energy-intensive. In Chile, UNDP used solar ovens to help prevent deforestation.

UNDP takes seriously its role to find and implement solutions that reduce poverty and sustain biodiversity in an environment degraded by climate change. In Indonesia, for instance, UNDP and its partners convinced local fishermen in Les to abandon fishing practices that were devastating a coral reef. As a result, the coral reef came back to life. In Africa, UNDP and the Global Environment Facility are getting people in remote areas onto the electrical grid by harnessing green sources of energy like hydropower and solar energy.

One fact can no longer be ignored: climate change effects will be increasingly felt by people from all walks of life. We will all be affected by food and water shortages, by the disappearance of species, by the expansion of warm weather killer diseases into new territories and by rising sea levels. This December, leaders from around the world will meet in Copenhagen for high-level climate change talks. But we cannot simply wait for decision-makers – our planet needs us now. The time for action is now.

As the Secretary-General said: "Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global threats and trends, when billions of people join forces in common purpose we can make a tremendous difference."