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Monthly Newsletter: January 2020
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In this newsletter, we focus on the positive role that World Vision’s efforts are having on climate change. You may not think of our water efforts in this way, but the impact that we’re having is large, significant, and sustainable. When you realize that we experience climate change in the form of water – as floods, droughts, storms, and increasingly unpredictable rainfall patterns – then the connection of water to helping communities thrive is easier to understand.

Building Climate Resiliency Through Water

Many of the people living in extreme poverty that World Vision serves live in equatorial zones where weather patterns are changing significantly. These people are also subsistence farmers who depend heavily on rain for their livelihoods. When it doesn't rain during the planting season, then crops fail, and the cycle of poverty continues. Increasing temperatures can also impact the sustainability of the water systems that we provide by reducing the availability of water.

Deforestation is one cause of changing weather patterns. The lack of shade from trees results in higher temperatures. You experience this change in temperature when you go from the cool of a forest to the heat of a city's streets. Deforestation can also lead to lower levels of rainfall. Trees help generate moisture for the water cycle, and roots are critical for moisture retention in soil. Without trees and other plants, soil dries out and rainfall decreases. 

An obvious solution is to reverse the trend of deforestation. This can have a dramatic effect on rainfall and temperatures, even at a micro-environment level.

On a recent trip to Honduras, I visited an area where we’ve seen the impact of work to regenerate the rainforest. The water system that World Vision provided for this community is a protected spring high up in the hills.  In the past, the land had been cleared for pasture and, over time, the availability of water from the springs had decreased significantly because of lower rainfall.

With help from World Vision, the community purchased land around the spring, allowing the rainforest to regrow. We climbed to the spring and witnessed the dramatic improvement in flow from the springs. Water seemed to be flowing from everywhere, and water flow entering the community below the springs had increased tenfold. We captured this experience in this short video (LINK to WATCH).

Honduras PLay

World Vision is a leader in reforestation. We focus on a simple method called farmer managed natural regeneration. This practice involves regenerating trees from stumps that are still alive, or managing new trees growing from wild seedlings through the simple act of pruning. It’s powerful because it’s simple, low cost, and very effective.

FMNR Picture

We’re now using this approach in 25 countries across Africa and Asia, and rapidly restoring environments. In fact, the approach has already resulted in the regrowth of millions of trees. Our goal is to reforest 750,000 hectares helping more than 6 million people by 2024. An added benefit of this approach is to sell the greenhouse gas emission reductions for income. One of our projects in southern Ethiopia generated $555,000 in income for local forest management cooperatives by selling the carbon credits.

Our solar powered water systems also reduce carbon dioxide emissions when they replace the use of diesel powered pumping or the use of firewood to boil water to make it clean. We will reach more than 2 million people with these systems by the end of 2021 through our partnership with Grundfos. 

Solar Panels

While you may not have thought of it, World Vision’s water programs are good for the environment as well as good for people.

Water Warrior Call - Year in Review 

Join our next Water Warrior Call on Feb. 11 at 1:00 pm PST / 4:00 pm EST to hear our 2019 Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) results.You can join the call on Feb. 11 by clicking the below link, or email Kaitlin McGarvey at kmcgarve@worldvision.org to be added to the calendar invite. 

Join Zoom Call

You're Invited to See Our Work

Join Dr. Greg Allgood on a trip to Rwanda from March 29 - April 3. please contact your donor representative for more information. Registration closes on Jan. 31, 2020. 

Prayer Requests

  • Give praise for the work of World Vision’s water programs that are restoring our environment, while providing clean drinking water to transform the lives of millions of people.
  • Give thanks for the innovation of partnerships, such as World Vision's partnership with Grundfos, and innovative approaches such as farmer managed natural regeneration that are allowing us to be good stewards of the resources that God has given us.
  • Pray for the resilience of communities that will face floods, droughts and storms this year as climate change continues to impact our lives.

 

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© 2020 World Vision, Inc. All rights reserved.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their
communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
In 2017, 85 percent of World Vision's total operating expenses were used for programs that benefit children,
families, and communities in need. Learn More.