FrutaSã has its roots in a scoping study of the Brazilian Cerrado eco-region conducted in the 1990s to determine socioeconomic challenges facing smallholder farmers and indigenous communities. Alongside mounting environmental threats to the region, exacerbated by the economic marginalization of the rural communities and subsequent over-exploitation of local resources, these findings insp

Through participatory planning and mapping exercises, the agro-pastoralist Itoh community conserves land around the Kilum mountain forest for grazing and agriculture. This forest fragment had previously been under threat from encroachment for timber harvesting and clearing for agriculture; it is the largest remnant of montane forest in the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon's Northwest Province. The

Kalinga Mission for Indigenous Children and Youth Development, Inc. (KAMICYDI) works to improve food security for the indigenous Kalinga people of the Philippines Cordillera, while ensuring the ecological integrity of the area's mountain forests. The association draws from traditional farming practices and customary forest management systems.

These traditional approaches have been augme

Once on the brink of resettlement due to desertification, soil degradation and lack of water, the Abrha Weatsbha community in northern Ethiopia has reclaimed its land through the reforestation and sustainable management of over 224,000 hectares of forest.  Tree planting activities have resulted in improved soil quality, higher crop yields, greater biomass production, groundwater functionin

For more than twenty-five years, the Agencia para el Desarrollo de la Mosquitia (MOPAWI, Agency for the Development of the Mosquitia) has worked to engage local and indigenous communities in the integrated management of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve and other protected areas in northeastern Honduras. Located within the Mosquitia area, the reserve contains the largest inta

Created as a response to land degradation issues resulting from slash-and-burn agriculture, uncontrolled bush fires, and overgrazing, Amical Bè Ôko is a three-village initiative that focuses on the reforestation of the degraded banks of the Kpaya River with palm and fruit-bearing trees to improve local health, nutrition, and food security. Reforestation efforts have restored ecosys

Association Amsing was created by the villagers of Elmoudaa – an Amazirght (Berber) community located in the High Atlas Mountains – to address economic isolation, a lack of social services, and harsh climatic conditions.  The association has successfully regenerated degraded lands surrounding their village through a traditional land management practice called ‘azzayn’ which bans herder

Founded by local women in 2003, Asociación de Artesanas de Arbolsol y Huaca de Barro (AAAHB, Women Artisans’ Association of Arbolsol and Huaca de Barro) works to recover traditional methods of cotton production that are environmentally responsible and create positive socioeconomic change in Mórrope District, Lambayeque, northern Peru.

The association oversees the pla

Based in the northern Caldas region of Colombia, Asociación de Productores Indígenas y Campesinos (ASPROINCA, Association of Indigenous and Peasant Producers) is a community-based organization that works with close to 350 indigenous farming families to diversify their agricultural production in an environmentally responsible manner.

A key objective of the association is en

Asociación de Trabajadores Autónomos San Rafael, Tres Cruces y Yurac Rumi (ASARATY, Autonomous Workers’ Association of San Rafael, Tres Cruces, and Yurac Rumi) brings together indigenous Quichua-Puruháe (Kichwa) communities in the central Ecuadorian Andes in the sustainable management of 8,000 hectares of montane grassland adj

Anja Miray was established in 1999 in response to the degradation and clearing of local forests, the sedimentation of water resources, and the loss of wildlife such as ring-tailed lemurs, chameleons, and tropical birds.  The association operates a 30-hectare community forest reserve in the Haute Matsiatra region of the country. 

The community has established an ecotourism init

Café la Selva is a chain of cafés that sell organically and sustainably grown coffee from indigenous Tojolabal and Tzeltales farming communities located in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. This pioneering initiative has taken advantage of growing international demand for sustainable, ethically-sourced coffee, and now has cafés in Europe and the United States. Profits from the enterprise have al

The Camalandaan Agroforestry Farmers' Association works to conserve fragments of lowland limestone forest on the Philippines island of Negros through on-farm tree conservation in the Southern Cauayan Municipal Forest and Watershed Reserve. The association is made up of local farmers who have been allocated rights to plots of land by the government as part of a community-based forest management

Cellule d'Appui à la Conservation et aux Initiatives de Developpement Durable (CACID, Support Group for Conservation and Sustainable Development Initiatives) was the local implementing partner to the Waza Logone floodplain rehabilitation project, an IUCN-led intervention in northern Cameroon from 1987-2000. The project piloted a succession of floodwater releases to rehabilitate an area b

Centre de Ressources en Agroforesterie de Riba (Riba Agroforestry Resource Centre) is a community-based organization working in mountainous northwest Cameroon, close to Kilum-Ijim Mountain Forest. The Centre promotes sustainable tree-based farming to rehabilitate watersheds and degraded land and generate income for the local community. A rural resource centre provides training in agroforestry a

Centro Alexander von Humboldt (Alexander von Humboldt Center) operates in one of the driest regions of the country and one of the areas most susceptible to natural disasters: hurricanes, severe droughts, and fresh water shortages.  The organization provides local communities with training in sustainable water management and has drilled more than 40 fresh water wells and repaired 35 communi

The village community of Bigodi, near Fort Portal, western Uganda, straddles an eight kilometre stretch of papyrus wetland that is home to an abundance of wildlife. Eight primate species and more than 200 bird species draw tourists from neighbouring Kibale Forest National Park, for which the Bigodi swamp forms an important wildlife corridor. Through the work of Chama Cha Maendeleo Ya Vijiji Na

Chibememe Earth Healing Association (CHIEHA) is a community-based initiative centered on the small village of Chibememe, in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. Arising in response to habitat destruction and deforestation in the Zivambava Island forest and the Chibememe mainland forest, the organization’s work has been driven by the 17 households that make up Chibememe community. Its work has spr

This women-led initiative arose in 1998 in response to the devastating effects of Hurricane Mitch on sixteen agrarian Garifuna communities. These peoples of Afro-indigenous descent have traditionally been socioeconomically marginalized in Honduras, and their agricultural livelihoods were hard hit by the loss of 70% of the country's crops due to heavy flooding.

Beyond initial disaster re

Sri Lanka's Community Development Centre (CDC) has worked to improve rural livelihoods through conservation of indigenous tuber varieties using seed banks managed by women-led self-help groups. Local technologies are used for seed production, with training on in-situ conservation of native varieties on individual land parcels. These self-help cooperatives are organized into federations of aroun

The town of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro is located in the western part of the Mexican state of Michoacán; its name refers to the destruction of the original San Juan Parangaricutiro during the eruption of the Parícutin volcano in 1943. Since 1982, local indigenous Purépecha community members have been engaged in sustainable timber and non-timber forest extraction and pro

With the aim of sustainably managing local forests, the Conservation Area Management Committee, Parche is applying indigenous knowledge to local environment and development challenges. In addition to establishing tree nurseries and working with communities to harvest non-timber forest products (NTFPs), the organization has reduced wildlife poaching and is providing alternative energy access for

Since 1998, the Conservation Society of Pohnpei (CSP) has worked to improve the ecological and social sustainability of a network of seven marine protected areas around the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. Through environmental education and biological monitoring programmes, the initiative has coordinated marine conservation efforts across Pohnpei, while encouraging a di

Since 1995, the biologically diverse Collingwood Bay area on the coast of Oro Province, north-eastern Papua New Guinea, has been the setting for a conflict between the province's 3,000 indigenous Maisin people and proposed commercial logging and palm oil development within the community's 262,000 hectares of ancestral lands. In 1998, 38,000 hectares of tropical forest were fraudulently signed o

The Department of Cauca in southern Colombia has suffered from years of armed guerilla conflict, which has left a struggling local economy and high levels of poverty in its wake. The Consorcio Interinstitucional para una Agricultura Sostenible En Ladera (CIPASLA, Inter-institutional Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture) has worked since 1993 to make local agriculture more profitable and

Corporación Serraniagua (Serraniagua Corporation) works to ensure the connectivity of protected areas throughout Colombia's Cordillera Occidental mountain range, a key component of the Chocó-Manabí Conservation Corridor. The group connects the conservation corridors of the Tatamá National Park and Serrania de los Paraguas (renowned for their high biodiversity and spe

Located in the southwest corner of the Mekong Delta, the Ha Tien Plain is a shallow basin where floodwaters pool to create vast grasslands. In response to several failed attempts to convert the plain for Eucalyptus forestry, rice cultivation, and shrimp aquaculture, a partnership between conservationists and a local village community has demonstrated that its resources can be sustainably manage

The Empresa Forestal Integrada de Bayamo (Integrated Forestry Enterprise of Bayamo) is a state-run forest enterprise operating in the Cuban province of Granma. In 1999, Granma was one of two pilot sites for the ecological forest farms (Fincas Forestales Ecológicas) initiative, which put reforestation of Cuba's Cauto River basin in the hands of smallholder farmers.

The working mod

The Farmers' Association for Rural Upliftment (FARU) is an initiative of the Chananaw indigenous people of Kalinga Province in the Philippines. The initiative aims to protect the environmental integrity of the Chananaw's ancestral domain through improved land management and more efficient agricultural techniques. Catalysts for the formation of the initiative included large-scale mining and geot

Fikambanan’ny Terak’i Manambolo (FITEMA, Association of Manambolo Natives) has used the reintroduction of an indigenous land use system to help conserve forests and wetlands in the 7,500-hectare Manambolo Valley – a forest corridor which joins the Andringitra and Ranomafana National Parks – while improving food security for local communities. The valley's forests are hom

Responding to local deforestation pressures on the area surrounding the headwaters of the Nosara River, a source of drinking water and of wellbeing for the inhabitants of the small town of Hojancha in the central highlands of the Nicoya peninsula, local farmers came together in 1994 to enhance local forest conservation and create the co-managed Monte Alto Protected Zone. This 924-hectare area w

Fundación San Crisanto (San Crisanto Foundation) focuses on mangrove restoration and flood prevention in a region that consistently faces heavy rainfall and flooding. Since the Foundation's establishment, over 11,300 metres of canals have been restored, and 45 cenotes have been delisted and rehabilitated. As a result, flood risk is reduced and populations and diversity of endemic wildlif

Formed in response to a 1998 Lashihai dam project that flooded large areas of farmland and left the Yi indigenous people displaced, Green Watershed has become a model of indigenous self-organization and participatory watershed management. The group responded to displacement by founding four autonomous organizations for sustainable resource management, each of which have achieved remarkable resu

Grupo de Estudios Ambientales y Sociales A.C. (GEA, Environmental and Social Studies Group) operates in the central mountain region of Guerrero promoting local access to safe water and training communities in sustainable land management.  The organization has reforested more than 500 hectares of land in an important watershed, established more than 60 organic farms, and undertaken terracin

For over 400 years, the grasslands in the Guassa area of Menz in Ethiopia's central highlands were governed under a communal management system known as Qero. In this system, elected headmen determined when and for how long local people could harvest thatch grass and graze their livestock. Following the 1974 revolution and the collapse of the Qero system due to agrarian reform, the Guassa area s

The Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme, better known by its Swahili acronym HASHI (Hifadhi Ardhi Shinyanga) ran from 1986 to 2004, with the aim of restoring the degraded Shinyanga region of northwest Tanzania. Christened the "Desert of Tanzania" in the mid-1980s by President Julius Nyerere, the region's miombo woodland had been decimated by decades of forest clearing (partly for tsetse fly e

The Amani Nature Reserve was created to protect the unique, biologically important sub-montane forest ecosystem of Tanzania's East Usambara Mountains. The biosphere reserve covers an area of about 83,600 hectares, and is home to a number of human settlements as well as unique and endemic biodiversity. These communities have been actively engaged in the management of the reserve since its establ

Kijabe Environment Volunteers (KENVO) has worked with rural communities on the Kikuyu Escarpment in Kenya since 1996, with a primary focus on forest conservation and reforestation in response to human pressures on the escarpment's forests. The organization has evolved beyond this initial focus, however, into a flexible delivery mechanism for donor-funded interventions and a powerful vehicle for

This community-based organization has worked since 1990 to conserve wetlands and biodiversity in and around Saiwa Swamp National Park, home to approximately 25 per cent of Kenya's vulnerable Grey Crowned Crane population. During the 1980s eucalyptus cultivation resulted in drainage of the swamp and damage to habitats.

The catalyst for reversing these trends came from a leader of the loc

This association of 27 village water committees located in the southern buffer zone of Honduras’ Pico Bonito National Park oversees the management of micro-watersheds and trains the local community in reforestation, conservation and the application of environmentally friendly technologies.  A primary focus is ensuring local access to potable water in a region prone to shortages. 

Mara River Water Users Association is a community-based water resources management organization whose primary objectives are to promote the protection and conservation of the Mara Catchment area, support the sustainable and efficient use of water, assist relevant authorities with water resources management and issuance of water use permits, and water conflict resolution.

The Association

Facing a proposal by the Brazilian government to build a large dam complex on the Tapajós River that would submerge their vast territories, which span one million hectares of primary rainforest, the Munduruku of the Brazilian Amazon formed a resistance movement called Ipereg Ayu. Ipereg Ayu, in local language, means “I am strong, I know how to protect myself”.  Designed

Between 1998 and 2003, this IUCN-led intervention in the Rufiji Delta area of Tanzania worked through the Rufiji District Council to develop village environment management plans in consultation with local communities. The project oversaw the effective transfer of resource management authority from the central government to four pilot villages comprising communities in the floodplain and delta a

The Marshall Islands is one of the most vulnerable nations in the world to the impacts of climate change and has economies that are dependent on declining fisheries. Comité des ressources locales de l’atoll de Namdrik is promoting a model of community self-sufficiency, local food security and adaptation.  Traditional crops such as breadfruit, taro and native pandanus have been

On the arid rangelands of the Marsabit area of northern Kenya, the livelihoods of pastoralist groups are subject to threats from overgrazing, land use change, social instability, and climate change. Pastoralist Integrated Support Programme (PISP), a local NGO, has worked since 1996 to increase the number of water points that can provide safe and reliable water for livestock and people, while st

Pederasyon sa Nagkahiusang mga Mag-uuma nga Nanalipud ug Nagpasig-uli sa Kinaiyahan (PENAGMANNAK) is a federation of seventeen peoples' organizations – self-help groups or cooperatives – working to conserve biodiversity in the Mt. Talinis area of Negro Oriental province. With their roots in the Mt. Talinis and Twin Lakes Biodiversity Conservation project (1996-1999), these groups' early act

This community-based organization operates in the forests of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. While the customary land rights of the association's indigenous Kayan people are recognized by the Malaysian government, many lands have not been officially demarcated, making them vulnerable to conflicting claims from outside interests. Members of the association work with GIS survey and mapping techno

Programa de Campesino a Campesino has operated throughout Nicaragua since the post-war period of the early 1990s, as part of the worldwide Via Campesina movement which advocates for food sovereignty, agrarian reform, and democratic governance of food production systems.

The Farmer-to-Farmer Program in the northern municipality of Siuna is one of sixty-five such programs in Nicaragua whi

The Proyecto Nasa (Nasa Project) aims to increase the political and organizational capacity of Colombia's indigenous Páez peoples, who have been disproportionately affected by violence in the Cauca region. By strengthening regional political autonomy and exercising their political rights, the indigenous groups involved in the project have successfully lobbied for access to a greater shar

In 1996, six women from the small communities of Tanado and Samurindo in the Chocó Region of Colombia partnered with an environmental NGO to add value to the harvesting and processing of aromatic and medicinal plants. Low prices and the time spent in collecting these plants made this traditional livelihood a relatively unproductive activity. With training and funding support, this women

The Red Indígena de Turismo de México (Indigenous Tourism Network of Mexico) promotes a self-reliance approach to indigenous community development, emphasising sustainable livelihoods in communities working for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The organization, primarily focused on ecotourism and microenterprises, mobilises indigenous communities through

The Committee for People's Rights (Podujana Himikam Kamituwa), a local NGO based in Kalutara District, southwestern Sri Lanka, has pioneered the reintroduction of rush and reed species to household paddy fields for processing into value-added handicraft products.

The Rush and Reed Conservation and Diversification Program aims to ensure the sustainable use of natural resources, to protec

In the low-lying northwestern region of Bangladesh, a mosaic of wetland ponds and waterways make travel extremely difficult, particularly during the monsoon season when extensive flooding occurs. To address this challenge, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha operates a fleet of 54 solar-powered boats to deliver services that range from schools to agricultural extension centers. The vessels are able to

Shompole Group Ranch covers almost 62,700 hectares of grassland and savannah in the Magadi Division of southern Kenya. The Group Ranch, under the management of the legally-registered Shompole Community Trust, has 2,000 registered members representing around 10,000 Loodokilani Maasai dependents, and is legally registered to undertake wildlife conservation within its boundaries.

Since the

This group currently co-manages the Mamirauá and Amaña Reserves, covering a combined total of 3.5 million hectares of flooded tropical forest and wetlands in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Founded in 1992, the initiative is an environmental policy and research body that brings together academic institutes and local communities in the sustainable management of the area's wetland resources

The Sociedades Cooperativas de Producción Pesquera de Cozumel y Vigía Chico (Fish Production Cooperative Societies of Cozumel and Vigia Chico), are two cooperatives working in the Mexican State of Qintana Roo to advance a model of sustainable fishing for local communities. Located on the tropical island of Cozumel, an international tourist destination, and in the Sian Ka'an Biosph

The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) was concerned about the rapid depletion of rice diversity in the Jeypore tract of the Indian state of Orissa, once the home of the largest number of rice varieties in India. In 1998, the foundation undertook to improve the condition of poor farmers while revitalizing vanishing rice varieties, combining modern and traditional approaches for the co

Working in the areas surrounding Lake Urmia – the world’s second largest hyper-saline lake  and the largest inland wetland in Iran – the Umbrella Group of Naghadeh NGOs addresses water management issues that include wetland restoration, adaptation to droughts, farm irrigation, and sedimentation in canals. Although previous efforts to restore the rapidly disappearing Lake

Union Soamitambatra is using a traditional consensus-based Malagasy governance system, known as fokonolona, and community social contracts, known as dina, to regenerate the Badika forest and its surrounding lakes. Working with 6,589 people across ten villages, the union brings together community user groups, technical experts, municipal government, and private sector partners

Uplift the Rural Poor was founded to improve the livelihoods of communities living adjacent to a series of three biodiversity-rich protected areas in Uganda: Bwindi Gorilla National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, and Echuya Forest Reserve. Uplift the Rural Poor works to reduce pressure on forest resources and an important gorilla habitat, while also creating alternative livelihood strate

Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Utooni Development Organization uses the innovative, low-investment “sand dam” technology in the communities of southern Kenya. Over 80 self-help groups were formed and 2700 farmers trained in water management, food security, sustainable agriculture, tree plantin

Working with nine downstream villages that have collectively faced severe water shortages, extreme droughts, and seasonal crop failures, Water Users Association (WUA) “Ob Umed”, or Water is Hope in English, is working towards the establishment of an equitable water distribution system based on traditional water rights, distribution rules, and the communal maintenance of local water

Zenab for Women in Development is a grassroots organization that has organized local women into a farmers union.  Started in 2005, the union has grown from 300 women in six communities to 3,000 women in 53 communities across Sudan.  Smaller cooperatives make up the larger union, each of which provides a platform for female farmers to improve agricultural productivity and to exchange environme