Forests and tree plantations are seen as part of the solution since they store carbon at a rate 20 to 100 times more per acre than pastures and croplands. The substitution of composting and other organic techniques for fertilizers and pesticides on tree plantations also allows for increased carbon storage.
In recent years the shea tree has gained importance as an economic crop because of the heavy demand for its butter, both locally and internationally. In recognition of the need to find substitutes for the rather expensive cocoa products, and to maximize economic exploitation of the vast shea resource in Ghana, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) initiated scientific research into the cultivation and processing of shea nuts.
Sewage discharge from illegal drainage pipes caused pervasive coastal and water pollution in the city of Santos, Brazil. Erosion of the local tourist industry then caused a deep recession in the 1970s.
In Bagadadji, one of the oldest areas of Bamako, Mali, a project entitled "Improved Cesspools" was designed and is carried out on the basic premise that the local population should be involved in managing their own environment.
In 1993, The ReSource Institute for Low Entropy Systems (ReSource) started a sanitation and pollution prevention project in Puerto Morelos, Mexico that has composting toilets as its technological centerpiece.
Worldwide, about a million people are poisoned by pesticides each year; ten thousand of these victims die from such poisonings. The risks are greatest in developing countries. Ninety-nine percent of the deaths caused by agricultural chemicals occur in those countries.
In the semiarid zones of sub-Saharan Africa, crop and livestock farming forms the source of sustenance for resource-poor farmers. But the dry season is usually marked with food scarcity, reduced food availability, and lower village-level economic activities.
Food legume improvement project (FLIP) is under the rain-fed agricultural research program at National Center for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT) in Jordan, a government body under the umbrella of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Finnish engineers have poured pig manure into a contaminated pond next to an old mine, saying the bacteria in the slurry will clean up metals in the water.
Industrial pollution and waste management remains one of the greatest obstacles to protecting the global environment and achieving sustainable development.