Youth unemployment is a huge problem in Nigeria. Half of the country’s population is under the age of 30, and the public sector cannot absorb the…

‘Climate change’ is a term used to describe a large-scale, long-term change in the earth’s weather patterns or average temperatures. It happens partly because of natural causes, but also because of human activities.

Plastic bags are easily carried by the wind. They hang in bushes, float on rivers, flap from fences, clog drains, choke animals and affect the way the landscape looks. Few plastic bags are recycled and most types of plastic bags take hundreds of years to decay. In South Africa, plastic bags are so common they are called the ‘national flower’. In India, around 100 cows die each day from eating plastic bags that litter the streets.

The Eco-bishops are a group of Anglican bishops from around the world, speaking out together about climate change. Footsteps had the privilege of interviewing them about their work.

God was determined that the Fall would not be the end of the story of creation. He sent Jesus to save us from sin and to make it possible for the relationships between God, humans and the environment to be restored.

The term biodiversity is used to describe the huge variety of life on this planet. An astonishing 1.8 million different species have been identified and named by scientists. Yet we still do not really know how many there are in the world.

Until recently, the use of plastic bags was very common in Kenya. Whenever we went shopping, we knew our purchases would be wrapped nicely in…

The residents of communities around the Tejipió River in north-east Brazil suffer from regular floods. The factors that cause such floods are well…

One small planet The theme this time is how we care for the natural environment. Much of the issue is concerned with helping people to make the best use of a small area of land.

All around the world groups are responding to environmental problems in a variety of ways. Here are a few examples…

Last year I was privileged to have visited Angola for two weeks. Travelling around the country made a deep impression on me and changed my view of…

Agroforestry is the practice of allowing trees and crops to grow together. This may be on farmland or in the forest. It is a way of making better…

Seeds can be planted in all kinds of containers. Plastic tubes, milk cartons, plastic bags, tins or broken pots all make good growing containers. All…

Plan sowing so tree seedlings will be ready during the rainy season. Many tree seedlings need about four to six months in a tree nursery before…

As the seeds grow, they develop into seedlings. These need room to develop. Thin out to leave just one seedling in each container and well-spaced…

Seedlings planted in large seed beds need special care to prevent the roots growing together and becoming mixed up. As the seedlings grow, the roots…

For the last four to six weeks in the nursery the seedling trees need to be ‘taught’ how to survive outside the nursery where there is no shade and…

If possible, only plant out seedlings on cloudy days when rain has made the soil really wet. Late afternoon is the best time to plant them out. Water…

Make a small hollow around the tree to catch water. Keep clear of weeds. If trees are planted on a slope, make V-shaped ridges to catch and hold…

A common method of agroforestry is called ‘alley cropping’. Closely planted lines of suitable trees are spaced about five metres apart – usually by…

Some trees are useful to plant on the edges of fields and farms. They can be used to mark boundaries and to provide protection from strong winds.…

Trees help us in so many ways. See how many uses you can think of. Consider how much can grow in a forest and how fertile the forest soil can be.…

Often when trees are grown on the farm by men, they are grown for timber. Women are not allowed to cut these trees for firewood. Special trees may…

Local trees usually have one or more names in each local language. However to help people who speak different languages identify the same tree, every…

The best trees to grow together with crops are those with deep roots so they do not compete with crops for water and nutrients. They should allow…

Many local trees can be encouraged to grow without the need to plant seeds. If you only want a few seedlings of a local tree, it may be possible to…

You may be fortunate to have a nearby nursery that has a good supply of tree seedlings. However, most farmers who want to plant a lot of trees will…

Make it a habit to carry some bags or old envelopes with you so you are always ready to collect seed from good trees. Collect only fully ripened…

Many trees can be sown directly into the ground. Plant lines of seeds following the contour line, or around the outside of a plot of land. Plant the…

It is very simple to build and look after a tree nursery. This can range from just a few trees growing in shade near your home to a large nursery…

About biodiversity and GM crops by Avice Hall. The Women Workers’ Training Centre in the flat arid plain of Tamil Nadu works with about 100 villages in the surrounding area. Many years there is hardly any rainfall and there is widespread poverty. Most farmers are subsistence farmers and lack money to own the oxen needed for ploughing the land.

Imagine vast areas of land with no trees and plants – just dust and cracked earth. When land which used to produce crops loses most of its fertility and becomes barren, the land becomes desert. For over 900 million people around the world this is a huge problem. It causes food and water shortages and forces people to leave their home areas.

We all produce rubbish. Usually we don’t think about it. We just throw it away. But 2 billion people don’t have their waste collected and the world…

Periods of intense heat, known as heatwaves, are becoming more common because of climate change. When it is very hot, people can suffer from health problems such as dehydration, heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

A rubbish pit is a way of disposing of household waste by burying it, after it has been reduced or recycled as much as possible. This helps prevent contamination of water supplies and breeding of flies and rats which may spread disease to people in the community. A rubbish pit reduces unpleasant smells and removes household waste from sight.

by Iftekhar Enayetullah. Over six million people live in Dhaka and each day they produce over 3,000 tons of household waste. Yet the Dhaka City Corporation collects less than half of it. The rest remains on roadsides, in open drains and in low-lying areas. This has a negative impact on the city’s environment. It is estimated that the population of Dhaka will be 19.5 million by 2015. It will become very difficult to find sites to bury the waste as the city expands, and transport costs to ...

Come nightfall, the residents of Madzangina lived in complete darkness. The village, in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has…

Case study from Maradi, Niger by Trudi Dickins and Joel Matthews. The Maradi Integrated Development Project (MIDP) is a Christian development programme which is part of SIM (Society for International Ministries) Niger. They believe the gospel is at the heart of true and lasting development. They encourage stewardship of the earth and living in harmony with both God our Creator, and the earth he created to be enjoyed.

With thanks to Gillian Dorfman for this information compiled from Outreach packs 101, 102, 103. Produced by Outreach, 200 East Building 239 Greene St, New York University, NY 10003, USA and Outreach Regional Office, UNEP, PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya.

An inspiring group of young people in Nigeria are thinking up environmentally friendly business ideas.

by Loida Carriel and Graham Gordon. Ayaviri is a town of 17,000 people, situated in the Andes mountains in Peru. It surrounds an ecological reserve called La Moya, which is the only place in the district that remains green throughout the year. La Moya has important historical and cultural significance. Two indigenous communities (traditional inhabitants) live on the edge of La Moya, and share it with Ayaviri. The communities keep animals in surrounding fields and during the dry season they ...

Do you ever get angry and then feel embarrassed? I do. I remember driving with four church and community transformation (CCT) facilitators through…

Mumtaz and Beenish are in their sixties. In fact, they are not quite sure of their exact ages. But they are sure about their love for their community…

Mushroom growing can be a useful way of earning income when climate change makes farming less reliable. You do not need farmland to grow mushrooms, so it is a useful activity in both rural and urban areas.

A Tearfund partner is working with farmers in Brazil’s semi-arid region. Thanks to their Planting Project, people now have a reliable supply of healthy organic food.

Ashraf has worked for Tearfund for more than ten years. He steps down next month to take up a role with the Pakistan Partner Initiative working with…

Our series of Q&As with country directors continues with Vincent Moyo, who has worked for Tearfund in Malawi since 2006. He shares his thoughts on…

We all produce rubbish. Usually we don’t think about it. We just throw it away. But the world is running out of room to store all the rubbish that is piling up. If left lying around, rubbish becomes a health hazard and looks ugly. Burning rubbish pollutes the air and the ashes are often toxic. Sometimes rubbish is dumped into rivers and lakes and pollutes the water. Often rubbish is buried in the ground. Buried rubbish may contain toxic substances that leak into the soil and pollute the water ...

by Elizabeth Bates, Nigel Bruce, Alison Doig and Stephen Gitonga. Around 80% of people in rural sub-Saharan Africa depend on fuels such as wood, dung and crop residues for their domestic energy. Smoke from burning these fuels inside homes can lead to an increase in serious health problems such as pneumonia and lung disease. This particularly affects women and young children who spend large amounts of time in the kitchen.

A  view from Haiti Haiti is the western part of the Caribbean island shared with the Dominican Republic. Haiti means ‘mountainous’, but today Haiti’s steep slopes are scarred by massive erosion. Years ago Haiti was covered in mature forest with trees including valuable timber species such as West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni) and Haitian Oak (Catalpa longissima). Today’s Haitian population relies on wood for all sorts of uses but it is rarely produced in an organised fashion. ...

Nearly 1.5 billion people around the world do not have access to electricity, particularly in rural areas. If you are thinking about starting a renewable energy project in your community, here are some things to consider.

A selection of books, websites and training material relating to climate change.

The ‘tree gardens’ of the Chagga people of Mount Kilimanjaro provide an inspiring model of how land can be sustainably managed.

Instead of throwing away waste items, we can use them to create new business opportunities.

A Rocha is a Christian wildlife conservation organisation working in 20 countries. They share some activities for helping children and young people to engage with the natural world.

by Isabel Carter. Piles of scraps of plastic, old batteries, paper wrappers and empty drink cans… Rubbish is a problem all around the world. Large cities and developed countries have rubbish collection schemes. In the rural areas of most countries this is usually lacking. Wherever people go, they tend to leave rubbish behind – even on the moon!

Climate change will affect all of us and is a key issue to advocate about. This article explains different ways to advocate on climate change and suggests ten key questions to consider.

What is advocacy? Advocacy is about influencing people and public policies to bring about change. It involves influencing those in power to act more…