Right across the world from Sumatra to Senegal, Madagascar and the Ganges Valley, rural communities whose livelihoods depend directly on the climate, the soil, the water and the plant and animal diversity of their environment have proved that it is possible to rebuild an ecosystem and alleviate poverty at the same time. If there is one lesson to be learnt from Livelihoods’ experience in the field and its bold experiments, it is that seemingly disparate worlds can find common cause.
One might imagine that major international companies and isolated villages in Africa, Asia and Latin America have nothing in common. That there is a yawning gulf between NGOs driven by ideals and businesses driven by profit, between the so-called private sector and the public interest. But in practice, the ongoing adventure of Livelihoods is proof positive that this apparent gulf can be bridged to form productive and beneficial alliances.
For the first time in book form, Bernard Giraud, the President & Co-Founder of the Livelihoods Funds and a veteran advocate for sustainable development, tells the story of communities around the world who are striving collectively to reconcile their human needs with those of the natural world.