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Sustaining the Environment

Sustaining the Environment

Since the early 1980s, a quarter of all farmland on earth has been lost to erosion and desertification. One result: destruction of farmland could drive 60 million people to flee Sub-Saharan Africa in search of food.

Without access to capital and viable markets for their crops, small-scale farmers in the developing world are trapped in a cycle of poverty. Rural poverty often takes an environmental toll, as survival tactics such as illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture degrade the ecosystems upon which farmers depend. Sustainable rural livelihoods depend on the preservation of biodiversity and the health of ecosystems.

Root Capital supports small and growing businesses that employ responsible environmental practices such as training farmers in sustainable production techniques or utilizing clean and appropriate technologies. By providing capital and financial training to small and growing businesses that value environmental stewardship, Root Capital builds sustainable livelihoods in Africa and Latin America.

Stories

  • Organic Alcohol for Cosmetics Strengthens Ecuadoran Livelihoods

    Consorcio Agro-artesanal Dulce Orgánico (CADO) is a cooperative of small-scale sugarcane growers in the Ecuadoran Andean region that distills organic alcohol from sugarcane for use in cosmetics. Through a combination of environment-friendly farming, gender-inclusive membership practices and positive social impact, CADO, led by its president Cecilia Arcos, has become the first ever exporter of fair trade and organic certified alcohol and has seen its sales volume nearly triple in the last two years. 

  • Leveraging Financial Advisory Services to Grow a Coffee Cooperative in Chiapas, Mexico

    Nestled in the buffer zone of the El Triunfo Biosphere in Chiapas, Mexico, Triunfo Verde is a coffee cooperative that grows organic and fair trade-certified coffee. In 2000, Triunfo Verde was a new cooperative of fewer than 100 members with a young management structure. Today, it has more than 255 members, and it is known for its transparent accounting and management practices.

  • COOPCAB: Rebuilding a Coffee Business in Haiti

    COOPCAB, a Fair Trade coffee cooperative and Root Capital client, operates in one of Haiti’s few remaining tracts of rainforest in a country where less than 1.5 percent of the land is forested. Through its reforestation program and purchase of fairly priced specialty coffee, COOPCAB provides a powerful link between environmental conservation and economic benefit for its 5,000 producer members.

  • Raising Incomes with Fair Trade Mangoes in Burkina Faso

    Founded in 2005, Fruiteq, a private export company, buys organic and Fair Trade fresh mangoes from more than 500 small-scale producers to whom they provide technical training and financial support. Since 2010, Root Capital financing has enabled Fruiteq to expand its supplier base, fulfill orders, and provide much-needed income in an impoverished nation where 70 percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day.

  • Linking Economic Opportunities to Conservation in Peru

    By linking economic opportunities with environmental stewardship, Mountain Coffee, a 10 year-old coffee cooperative with more than 450 members, is providing a positive model for protecting the fragile biodiversity of the Amazon. A Root Capital client since 2009, Mountain Coffee produces organic and sustainable coffee for buyers like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

  • Protecting Gray Whales in the Baja

    Laguna Baja ARIC is a federation of nine community-based ecotourism enterprises operating in the San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. The San Ignacio Lagoon is the last pristine gray whale birthing lagoon left on the Pacific coast of northwestern Mexico. Don Pachico runs Pachio’s Ecotours. Root Capital has been his only source of credit since 2002.

  • Supporting Organic Flower Production in Ecuador

    Organic Blooming is an Ecuadorian company that produces and exports organic calla lilies. Founded in 2003, the business owns a farm with approximately 200,000 plants. The farm has achieved organic certification, and the company is committed to environmentally sound agricultural practices, to the furthering of biodiversity in the area, and to a socially responsible attitude regarding its employees.