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Nature for Justice Blog
Insights. Plans & Initiatives. Results.
Vision & Approach

5 Barriers to Entry in Nature-based Carbon Projects
Nature for Justice’s (N4J) experience with the request for nature-based carbon project proposals in Africa, which we are also contemplating in Canada with First Nations,

Spotlighting 5 Black Farmers’ Markets in North Carolina
“When I’m touching the soil, it just gives me freedom,” Samantha Foxx, owner of Mother’s Finest Family Urban Farms in North Carolina. How We Got

Nature-based Solutions: A Quick Explainer.
First coined as a term by the IUCN 20 years ago, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are gaining steam across the globe. Major international organizations, large donors,

Wetlands. Protecting Them is a Nature-based Solution.
85% of the world’s wetlands have been lost due to human interference, much of it through large-scale modern agriculture. Known as “nature’s kidneys,” wetlands slow

Evaluating Potential Nature-based Solution Projects: Systematically and Fairly
Last year, we founded an Africa Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Program and secured the commitment of major investors for the development and implementation of socially inclusive,

Looking Back to See Forward: 2022 Accomplishments and Opportunities Ahead
2022 – A Year in Review This is a somewhat unusual end-of-year message as I want to talk as much about process as achievements for

$51 per ton? Nope. Try $185 for the Social Cost of Carbon.
The Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) is the cost of the damages incurred by the emission of one additional metric ton (mt) of CO2. For

Interview with Ganesan ‘Bala’ Balachander, a Nature For Justice Senior Advisor
Old Wine in New Bottles. Nature-based Solutions in the Indian Farming Landscape. Ganesan ‘Bala’ Balachande started his career in physics but his real interest was

Interview with Jasmine Gibson, Our Regional Hub Outreach Coordinator
Jasmine Gibson Working closely with Clarenda Stanley on our BIPOC Farmers Project and Farmer Inclusion is our new Regional Hub Outreach Coordinator Jasmin Gibson who

Interview with Clarenda Stanley, N4J’s MD of Farmer Inclusion (Part 2)
Clarenda Stanley is an award-winning fundraiser, communications professional, and CEO/Founder of Green Heffa Farms, the nation’s first Certified B Corp Black-owned farm. Clarenda hosted the

Interview with Clarenda Stanley, N4J’s MD of Farmer Inclusion (Part 1)
We recently welcomed Clarenda Stanley as the new Managing Director of Farmer Inclusion for Nature for Justice. Clarenda is a farmer herself who grows herbs

Recognizing Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous peoples proven to sustain biodiversity and address climate change: Now it’s time to recognize and support this leadership People around the world increasingly see

John Oliver: Giggles and a Big Fail
John Oliver’s recent broadside against carbon offsets last month got lots of laughs. But Oliver and his team cherry-picked the data for the giggles. It

Nature-based Solutions? They’re powerful.
Nature-based solutions are gaining traction around the world as a means of mitigating the threats of climate change. While there are various definitions of Nature-based

What is Blue Carbon?
And why it’s imperative to protect this precious resource Blue carbon is the name for carbon captured by oceans and coastal ecosystems. Carbon sequestration and

Learn Fast: Measure. Compare. Modify.
Post COP26 View Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are emerging as a powerful, integrated approach for mitigating and adapting to climate change while protecting biodiversity and promoting

Let’s Invest in What’s Working!
We at Nature For Justice aim to be the organization that local communities and partners look to for support as they invest in projects to

Taking Partnerships to the Next Level,
the N4J Way
The Four-Legged Stool Theory is in essence the institutional capacity approach for program scaling: creating enduring impact versus implementing a ‘project’. There is frequent reference

Our Program for BIPOC Farmers: 1st Update
In spring 2021, Nature For Justice (N4J) launched its Inclusive Climate Resource Network (ICRNet) program for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) farmers in

Interview with Micheal O’Brien-Onyeka: Capacity Building – Thoughts from a Builder
We are very pleased to have Michael O’Brien-Onyeka join our team at Nature For Justice. Micheal comes with an impressive set of skills and significant
Partner Voices

Looking to the Past to Inspire the Future of Cocoa Agroforestry in Ghana
There are few places on earth where I feel more relaxed, refreshed and joyful than when walking through cocoa farms in Ghana. While many people

Interview with Rita Botha, Project Manager at the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR)
Rita Botha is the project manager at the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR) for the Goukou Resilient Rivers Projects and the Gouritz Ecological Corridor Project.

Achieving Landscape-scale Ecological Restoration
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. African proverb We need to go a long way,

NatureBank: New N4J Partner
Interview with Cornelia Rindt Lisa Cloete (LC): 1. Thank you for joining us today Cornelia. Can you tell us a bit more about the work

Interview with Kristine Zeigler: Climate Leadership — Gender Balance Matters
To cap our month of featuring women leaders, we interviewed Kristine Zeigler, CEO of the new organization Planet Women. This is the second article featuring

Interview with April Jones: Women Led Engagement with BIPOC Farmers
Farming for the Future: April Jones Faced with a changing climate, the need has never been greater to adopt farming practices that care for the

Commercializing Indigenous Plants in a Climate Impacted World
My passion is the sustainable commercialisation of Southern African indigenous plant resources to generate positive social, economic and environmental benefits. When the Southern African Natural

Cloud Forest Organics — Restorative Approach to Agribusiness: Part II
This project is about white spectacled bears. And pure high Amazon water. And about Porotón: a protein rich leguminous tree that is native to Andes

Radically Changing Business in Vulnerable Andean Cloud Forests: Part I
“We strongly believe that the protection of forests, the lives of local families, and their connection to the outside world are not separate but are

Nature For Justice and Cultivo:
A Common Vision
We aspire to be a leader in using nature-based solutions to achieve social justice for communities affected by the climate crisis. The Nature For Justice

Sustainable Solutions Come From Those On The Ground
“At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize

Looking to the Past to Inspire the Future of Cocoa Agroforestry
There are few places on earth where I feel more relaxed, refreshed and joyful than when walking through cocoa farms in Ghana. While many people
Vulnerable Voices

Indigenous-led conservation. A way forward.
“We have been on our land for over 700 generations and have learned important lessons around sustainability and natural resource management.” Hereditary Heiltsuk Chief Frank

What is Regenerative Farming? A South African Example.
Jurgen Johannes Streichter is a grain farmer in South Africa’s southern Cape and which lies within the Gouritz Biosphere Region where we are currently engaged

Senegal’s Mighty Mangroves – Livelihoods and Carbon
Mangroves: Buffer, Economic Engine, and Carbon Store In Senegal, mangroves dominate the coastal regions and for good reason. The mighty Senegalise mangrove provides one of

Climate Change, India, and the Price of Onions.
In India, onions are everything.” “In India, onions are everything,” my roommate Apurva told me as we waited outside our local vegetable stand. That summer,

It’s Time to Put Women in Charge of Saving This Planet
Today, we face four catastrophes at once: 1) the COVID-19 pandemic, 2) climate change, 3) institutional racism, and 4) political polarization and attacks on democracy.
Origin Stories

Destroying Nature Undermines Equity and Justice
My Nature For Justice colleague, Kevin Bryan, posted a blog and video last week on equity and justice and it reminded me of my ‘aha’

Help People Where They Are
Early in my career I had the good fortune to be offered a life-defining experience by working in the refugee camps in Somalia. Ali Matan