Sustainable Harvest International

Description

Central America has lost more than half of its rainforests in the last 50 years, contributing to mass extinctions and global warming. Rainforest destruction also wreaks havoc on local populations who depend on the rainforest for their survival.

Sustainable Harvest International helps farmers reverse rainforest destruction with sustainable land-use practices that allow them to take control of their environmental and economic destinies.

Since 1997, SHI has worked with nearly 1,000 families and 900 students in Honduras, Panama, Belize and Nicaragua implementing alternatives to slash-and-burn farming, the leading cause of rainforest destruction in the region. Working with local field personnel trained by SHI, our participants have:

• Planted more than 2,000,000 trees.
• Converted 6,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving 30,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction.
• Improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 200 organic vegetable gardens.
• Increased farm income up to 800%.
• Built 165 wood-conserving stoves (saving 1,650 trees per year)