Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Reversing the loss of Earth’s tropical rainforests is the fastest, most affordable, and most effective way to reduce global heating, protect half the world’s species, and decrease the risk of future pandemics. Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP & LC) steward the most climate-critical forests on Earth. However, they receive less than 1% of climate funding worldwide. 

Health In Harmony aims to have a significant impact on climate stabilization, reverse nature’s collapse, and restore social justice by radically listening to -  and investing in - the knowledge and expertise of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Rainforest community solutions to reverse forest loss are intersectional and holistic in nature. Communities tend to design solutions that merge three core elements to address the root drivers of degradation. These elements are access to affordable, high-quality healthcare, alternative livelihoods, focusing on just transition and food security, and some form of educational support for youth. In Indigenous communities, there tends to be a fourth set of solutions that focus on protecting and preserving traditional culture, spiritual practices, and language. 

HIH currently assists communities in protecting 9.4 M hectares of tropical rainforest in Indonesia, Madagascar, and Brazil and has established a peer-reviewed evidence base to prove efficacy across rainforest communities, ecosystems, and cultural contexts. In 2020, the first 10 years of medical, livelihood, and carbon data collected at the first program site in Indonesian Borneo were published in PNAS. HIH’s investment of $5.2M across 10 years into the communities’ intersectional solutions led to a 90% drop in logging households, $65.3M worth of carbon loss was averted, catalyzed a 70% reduction in forest loss, and led to a 67% decrease in infant mortality. 

At scale, HIH will work with Pawanka Fund and Woodwell Climate Research Center to facilitate direct investment in community-designed solutions, achieving a significant impact on climate stabilization, reversing nature's collapse, and restoring social justice by investing in the knowledge and expertise of IPs & LCs. Once funding and resources are invested into community-designed climate solutions, Pawanka, HIH, and Woodwell will begin measuring the quantitative impact on carbon and biodiversity and the qualitative impact through community narratives. Investments in community-designed solutions are upheld by reciprocity agreements and deep, ongoing relationships with communities, all of which are rooted in the shared goal of planetary thriving.

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Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)

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Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLCs) are stewards of 80% of the world‚ most biodiverse lands, and at least 24% of the carbon stored in tropical forests is in lands managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities (WRI 2015). However, IPLCs receive less than 1% of global climate funding. Health In Harmony recognizes IPLCs to be ardent defenders of their forests who have been put in positions that place these climate-critical forests at risk. The Rainforest Exchange works to get climate funding directly into their hands. By directing investment into community-designed and led solutions, the Rainforest Exchange is simultaneously bridging the gap between locally derived climate solutions and global capital, while improving health outcomes, increasing economic development, and acting in the face of a climate emergency. 

Ensuring just representation of all community members, including women and youth, begin at the very beginning. Radical Listening ensures that all voices in the community are heard including those that are often marginalized. Throughout Health In Harmony programs, women are leading and holding positions that have typically been held by men. Women‚ empowerment and gender equity are direct aspects of our approach to biodiversity conservation and planetary health. Because our work is consciously inclusive and integrates the needs of women and marginalized groups, Health In Harmony was awarded the 2020 UN Global Climate Action Award in the Women for Results category.

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Mission Statement:

Health In Harmony is an international NGO with a mission to reverse tropical rainforest deforestation for planetary health, by working alongside the experts, Indigenous People and Local Communities, to protect rainforests. In order to position these communities as climate and conservation experts and identify and interrupt the root causes of rainforest degradation, Health In Harmony practices a grounded methodology called Radical Listening. This approach involves not only listening to IPLCs, but investing precisely in their solutions that lead to rainforest stabilization, restoration, and community wellbeing. Implementation of our model in Indonesia showed a 90% reduction in logging households and $65m in averted carbon loss (Jones et al, 2020; attached). By listening to and investing in these solutions that typically include access to healthcare, regenerative livelihoods, and education in exchange for protecting the forest, Health In Harmony currently contributes to protecting 8.8M ha of rainforest in Indonesia, Brazil, and Madagascar.

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