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Series
4: Programme 5 (of 11) - 'Naturally
Yours ' |
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This collection of stories for
Naturally Yours shows innovative techniques that
make the most of natural resources to produce
goods ranging from food, coffee, wine, oil and
fertiliser to fashion accessories, in ways that
are in harmony with the land. All the over world,
communities are reaping the gains of commercial
success without damaging the environment. |
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| Out
of the Shade - Colombia |
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Coffee is the second most traded
commodity behind oil and when coffee prices plummeted
from over US$2 to less than sixty cents per pound
(equivalent to a drop from approximately $4.40
to $1.30 per kilo) in the 1990s, it created a
worldwide crisis. It induced changes to unsustainable
coffee farming methods - planting high-yield varieties
that require newly cleared land - and a switch
to using and clearing land to raise cattle. This
may have brought short-term cash rewards but it
is devastating to the environment and long-term
sustainability. Reversion to traditional coffee-growing
methods is, however, finding huge success in the
market place and is responsible for protecting
livelihoods and the natural environment. |
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| Banana
Public - Costa Rica |
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For the residents of the Talamanca
region in Costa Rica, the traditional methods
of producing cocoa - their main source of income
- used to have one major drawback: cacao was a
mono-culture. And in 1979 what everyone feared
happened: cacao became infected with a fast-spreading
fungal disease which virtually eliminated the
local agriculture economy. Farmers were forced
to clear the land to raise cattle, cut the trees
for timber, and introduce intensive farming methods
to produce short cycle cash crops. |
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| Green,
Green Wine - Portugal |
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Increasing public concern over
how food is produced, in the wake of multiple
food scares and the unknown implications of new
technologies such as genetic modification, is
changing consumers' attitude to what they eat
and drink. Coupled with higher awareness of the
damage that intensive agriculture can do the environment,
this means that there has been growing demand
for all types of organic products over the last
decade. |
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| Grape
Expectations - Germany |
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Disposal of grape marc, the waste
from wine production, has long been a problem
for wineries. Once the juice has been extracted,
the skin, stalks and seeds are all redundant.
In total, more than 20 per cent of wine production
is waste, comprising thousands of tonnes. The
marc, if not treated effectively, can cause a
number of environmental hazards ranging from surface
and groundwater pollution to foul odours. However,
one wine producer is capitalising on the waste,
spotting that there is more to be squeezed from
grapes than a great vintage and turning grape
marc into high quality compost, fertiliser and
grape seed oil. |
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| Amazon
à Porter - Brazil |
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Hundreds of small forest communities
in the Amazon Basin, Brazil, depend on rubber
tapping to survive. They have been badly hit by
a decline in demand caused by the increased use
of plantation rubber. Land is being cleared for
cattle breeding, which compounds the problem for
both, the population and the forest. However,
haute couture, of all things, is providing
a way out. By involving rubber tappers in sustainable
production of Treetap®, a smooth and durable material
which feels like leather, it is reversing a cycle
of unsustainable forest use and poverty by helping
to protect over 900,000 hectares of wild forest
from exploitation. |
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| Trading
on Tradition - Sudan |
In Sudan, Africa's largest country,
the poverty levels are estimated to be as high
as 92 per cent of the population. Low capacity
in the country's productive sectors, border tensions,
civil war, the harsh climate and natural environment,
and lack of international support are all factors
that challenge people's ability to survive. A
food processing project is a great example of
how simple techniques can unlock women's potential,
giving them practical skills to become self-sufficient
and in so doing transforming their economic and
social status. |
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