Farming Communities
- Farming Communities Madagascar Photo
- Local farmers in Madagascar use traditional methods to work fields of organic cotton.
- ©Julie Larsen Maher
Rural communities around the world depend directly on natural resources for sustenance and income. But exploitation often outstrips the rates of renewal, and the Earth will only continue to provide if given the proper care. Uncontrolled logging, slash-and-burn agriculture, and widespread use of inorganic pesticides and fertilizer chew away at precious landscapes and water bodies.
Where rural communities share their turf with wildlife, WCS trains
subsistence farmers, hunters, and former poachers to transfer their
efforts to new, more sustainable trades. These include organic farming,
beekeeping, gardening, and carpentry. Not only do these livelihoods
promote a healthier lifestyle and environment, they are also more
lucrative, enabling farmers to take advantage of international market
demand for high-quality, organic products.
WCS Projects
The Conservation Cotton Initiative (CCI) promotes the development of
organic, eco-friendly cotton farming around high biodiversity areas.
The program helps to enhance incomes and economic development, improve
resource management, and protect wildlife.
In Zambia’s rural Luangwa Valley, a farming co-op known as Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) has helped former poachers and subsistence farmers turn their efforts to new trades that are both more profitable and gentler on the environment.
From the Newsroom
“Conservation cotton” from Africa is making its way onto the backs of U2 fans across the world, thanks to a partnership between Hard Rock International, T-shirt company edun LIVE, and WCS.