Related content

Treelings – Tree registration system

Treelings is a tree registration system that empowers individuals and organizations to plant trees and track their environmental impact — supporting nature-based carbon removal projects.

During the following 2 years of enlisting, the trees undergo regular monitoring through the use of drones, satellite images, and AI models to ensure their successful growth in the harsh climate of Mongolia. The process entails counting the number of trees, assessing the biomass, calculating carbon sequestration and checking their overall health with our algorithms. This information then gets recorded on blockchain and stays visible to their owners on the app and the website during their growth. 

Since launching our MVP in 2022, our application has been downloaded 10000+ times and we are currently monitoring 89 thousand trees of 6 forestation projects on our platform. On top of developing a digital solution, we also directly overlook the plantation of 30,000 trees in a 20 hectares of area affected by desertification. 

 

Sparśa Ambassador Program: Youth-Led Menstrual Health Education and Stigma Reduction in Nepal

This initiative is part of the Sparsa Solution, a Nepali non-profit organization that locally produces and distributes compostable menstrual pads with an absorbent core made from banana fiber. The Sparśa Ambassador Program trains young community members to deliver culturally sensitive menstrual health education in Chitwan, Nawalpur East, and Nawalpur West. Ambassadors—both male and female—are selected from their own communities and trained in MHM, SRHR, facilitation, and leadership. They design age-appropriate sessions for schools, using interactive activities, product demonstrations, and environmental messaging, and run dialogue-based discussions for adults to address myths, stigma, and sustainable product choices. Strong partnerships with schools, NGOs, and local authorities ensure legitimacy and reach. By combining youth leadership, tailored education, and local engagement, the programme improves knowledge, reduces stigma, promotes gender equality, and supports a shift toward eco-friendly menstrual products. 

Defining a Good Menstrual Pad: A User-Centered R&D Process in Nepal

This initiative is part of the Sparśa Solution, a Nepali non-profit company that locally produces and distributes compostable menstrual pads with an absorbent core made from banana fibre. The solution focuses on defining what makes a good menstrual pad, combining research, prototyping, quality assurance, and continuous user feedback. 

The process began with a nationwide study of 820 women and girls, whose insights shaped the pad prototypes. Pads were then developed in two phases: manually and later with machines, testing different material combinations to balance absorbency, comfort, and compostability. Internal testing protocols and certified laboratory analysis ensured hygiene and compliance with national and international standards. 

Feedback from users, collected through simplified surveys in Nepali and English, provides the basis for ongoing refinement of both pad design and packaging. By linking social research with technical innovation, the solution delivers pads that are safe, eco-friendly, and culturally acceptable.

Ecosystem Restoration through Community Engagement, Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve (ITBA) -Saudi Arabia

ITBA spanning 91,500 km², is one of Saudi Arabia’s largest and most ecologically diverse protected areas, encompassing sand dunes, wadis, steppes, plains, plateaus, and floodplains. Declared 2018 after decades of degradation, its vegetation cover was below 4%. The Reserve adopts a community-based approach for ecosystem restoration through developing sustainable rangeland management programs and active reforestation initiatives. ITBA has since shown remarkable recovery. Surveys identified 235 plant species, 10 mammals, 30 reptiles, 184 birds with nine globally threatened species. Restoration efforts include planting over 775,000 native trees, reintroducing of 460 wild animals including Arabian oryx, sand gazelle, ostrich, and houbara. Satellite monitoring shows vegetation density rising from 3.6% in 2020 to 9.4% in 2025, with wadis and depressions most productive. Rangeland condition has shifted toward recovery, benefiting biodiversity and over 12,000 herders who save SAR 17.6 million per season.

Sparsa Business Model: Gender-responsive entrepreneurship and market access

This initiative is part of the Sparsa Solution, a Nepali non-profit organization that locally produces and distributes compostable menstrual pads with an absorbent core made from banana fiber.
The Sparsa business model, rooted in gender responsive entrepreneurship and strategic market access to ensure the sustainable distribution of biodegradable menstrual pads. As a nonprofit social enterprise, Sparsa integrates ongoing market evaluation, seasonal hiring practice, and active user committees at both factory locations to enhance responsiveness and community ownership. 

The model emphasizes adaptability across diverse geographic and cultural contexts and explores innovative marketing strategies such as distribution through women’s groups and community leaders. Internal and external feedback sessions are conducted to improve product quality and customer satisfaction. Strategic efforts include building a four-year financial plan, conducting market research and forming strong partnerships with NGOs, municipalities, schools, hostels

Management and Protection of the Coastal Wetlands in Yancheng, China

The Jiangsu Yancheng Wetland Rare Birds National Nature Reserve has the largest and most intact intertidal ecosystem on the western coast of the Pacific and the eastern edge of the Eurasian continent. It serves as an important stopover for water birds on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and protects the largest wild red-crowned crane wintering population in China. Over the past 40 years, the reserve has carried out extensive work in coastal wetland and wildlife protection, scientific monitoring and research, publicity and nature education, and the transformation of the value of ecological products. It has continuously improved its construction and management level, made unremitting efforts in the practice and demonstration of protection, development, and support functions, and effectively protected the biological and cultural diversity within the area. It plays an important role in maintaining ecological security and showcasing ecological image.

Building networks and relationships to strengthen and promote the compostable menstrual pad production in Nepal

This initiative is part of the Sparsa Solution, a Nepali non-profit organization that locally produces and distributes compostable menstrual pads with an absorbent core made from banana fiber.

To scale impact and ensure sustainability, Sparsa actively builds strong relationships with government bodies, grassroots organizations, and global partners. We engage municipalities, schools, and women-led NGOs to expand awareness, build trust, and ensure our solutions are locally relevant and widely accessible. We are a proud member of the Menstrual Health Management Partner Alliance (MHMPA) Nepal, enabling national-level advocacy and knowledge exchange. By completing all legal steps and aligning with government frameworks, we ensure full compliance and credibility. These partnerships—ranging from policy support to grassroots mobilization—have enabled Sparsa to extend its reach, foster innovation, and integrate menstrual health into broader development goals.

Eco-Friendly Salt Marsh Restoration Using Fishery By-Products

IPCC recognizes seagrass beds, salt marshes, and mangroves as the three primary blue carbon ecosystems. Taean National Park features a diverse coastal environment  including salt marshes, coastal sand dunes, and seagrass beds. These habitats support a variety of species that are specially adapted to these environments. These areas are ecologically significant both as critical habitats and natural carbon sinks. However, ongoing coastal development and increasing visitors have led to continuous degradation and a reduction in their area due to human activities.

In the past, fishery by-products were classified as general waste. Improper disposal practices, including illegal dumping and uncontrolled accumulation along the coast, resulted in marine pollution, foul odors and decay. To address this issue, legislation was enacted to promote the recycling  of fishery by-products. In line with this initiative, the park launched a pilot project to restore salt marshes and reinforce the coastline using recycled oyster shells.

Conserving Critically Endangered rosewood and Endangered padauk species in Community forest Vietnam's Central Annamite

Rosewood (Dalbergia spp.) and Dipterocarpus macrocarpus are among the most logged and traded tropical timbers in Southeast Asia due to high demand from the luxury furniture market. Extensive illegal logging and trade have led to local extinction or severe population declines across its range. In response, we propose a community-based conservation program in the Central Annamites, Vietnam. The initiative includes establishing community nurseries, replanting rosewood in known habitats, and protecting remaining mature mother trees through the creation of Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) in community forests. This integrated approach will safeguard vital seed sources, support long-term species recovery, and actively engage local communities. In doing so, it will also create alternative income streams through seedling production, participation in restoration efforts, and access to carbon credits and other green financing opportunities.

The Nature Conservancy & National Geographic Society Externship Program

Together, the partners developed a program centered around a rigorous externship open to young adults ages 18-25 to equip them with the knowledge, tools, and relationships to seek solutions and take action in their communities around the globe. The program intentionally creates more opportunities for young people from all communities to prepare for careers in conservation and exploration. At the end of this eight-week experience, externs create an ArcGIS StoryMap presentation based on the local conservation issue they investigated. As the externship concludes, participants can apply for seed funding to begin enacting the solutions they identified in their communities. The program has addressed the challenge of inadequate leadership opportunities for global youth, by providing young adults from ages 18-25 with the opportunity to tackle global conservation issues, while gaining conservation skills.

Site-level tool for identifying other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) : first edition (Khmer version)

Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) are sites outside protected areas that deliver effective and long-term in situ conservation of biodiversity. Biodiversity conservation may be the primary objective of the site, a secondary objective of a site that is managed for other purposes, or it may be an unintended consequence of the way the site is managed. OECMs may be governed and managed by governments, private entities or Indigenous peoples and local communities, or a combination of these. This tool guides an assessor through three steps to apply eight criteria which determine if a site qualifies as an OECM as set out under the Convention on Biological Diversity. For sites which do not currently meet all the criteria, the tool serves to highlight areas where further information or improvements in governance and management are required.

Unselective, unsustainable, and unmonitored trawl fisheries?

In 2016, the term UUU (unselective, unsustainable and unmonitored) fishing was developed and a Resolution of the World Conservation Congress, adopted by Members, tasked IUCN’s Species Survival Commission with reporting on the concept. The resulting situation analysis utilises the trawl fisheries of China, Thailand and Vietnam to explore how some of the issues associated with UUU fishing can be linked back to these three elements. The report found considerable variation in each component of UUU across the case study countries but that uncontrolled fishery development resulting in excess fishing capacity is commonly a root cause, leaving long standing impacts which have proven very challenging to solve. Whilst the report does not provide recommendations for action, it does identify 14 areas where further work would help accelerate progress on sustainable use, the protection of species of conservation concern and help safeguard the marine ecosystem.