Women stand in line for food aid distribution delivered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and world food program in the village of Makunzi Wali, Central African Republic. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Facebook Introduces Disaster Maps, Announces Early Partners
Facebook has introduced a new disaster maps initiative that will serve as a case study for ways private sector companies and humanitarian response organizations such as UNICEF, the Red Cross, and the WFP can leverage their unique skill sets in order to get resources where they are needed in the moments following a disaster. The company will share aggregated, de-identified location information on Facebook users who have their location settings enabled with a few select disaster response organizations.
#50MillionTrees: How Young People Are Fighting Deforestation in Tanzania
It might be best known for its wildlife, but Tanzania is facing a growing number of environmental concerns and biodiversity in the country is under threat. In late 2016, a group of young people decided to take on the issue with the #50MillionTrees campaign, which aimed to encourage local people to reverse the loss of their natural environment.
A New Formula to Help Tame China's Yellow River
The Yellow River is considered the cradle of China’s civilization—but also its sorrow. Its vast floodplains coaxed people in for agriculture. Yet its violent floods have killed millions. The precautionary purging at the Xiaolangdi Dam, which has occurred annually since 2002, is the latest high-tech attempt to prevent flooding and tame the Yellow River, which today threatens more than 80 million people.
An Urban Farm Grows in Brooklyn
Erik Groszyk used to spend his day as an investment banker working on spreadsheets. Now, he’s harvesting crops from his own urban farm out of a shipping container in a Brooklyn parking lot. The Harvard graduate is one of 10 "entrepreneurial farmers" selected by Square Roots, an indoor urban farming company, to grow crops locally in Brooklyn. For 12 months, farmers each get a 320-square-foot steel shipping container where they control the climate of their own farm. Under pink LED lights, they grow GMO-free greens all year round.