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The flower ballot
is used by farm communities in southern Colombia to determine which crops
need to be researched for improvement. Working with non-government organizations
and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, the community then
carries out research trials itself. |
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In rural Colombia, the distinction between indoors and outdoors
is blurred in ways people who live in cooler northern climates find hard
to imagine. This is a typical kitchen near the town of Siberia in the Cauca
region of Colombia. |
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Years of tree cutting for firewood, land clearing for farming, massive
sugar plantations have all combined to degrade the environment of the Cauca
watershed. But now the communities themselves have banded together to restore
what used to be their piece of heaven. |
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Part of the community plan involves the children. These young students
from Ventanas are proud that they are planting grasses to prevent soil
erosion in their neighbourhood. |
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The people of rural Colombia have worked hard, but have little in
the way of material things. That does not seem to bother them the way it
bothers people in the countries of the north. Survival is their struggle;
preserving the land for their children their dream. Making life better
is what counts most. |
