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Social forestry project wins the Liveability Challenge 2022

Posted on June 13, 2022 by dishanth

A social forestry project has won the 2022 edition of the Liveability Challenge, a yearly search for ways to tackle the most difficult sustainability challenges faced in Southeast Asia.

Fairventures Social Forestry, a team from Germany, emerged ahead of five other finalists to clinch the grand prize of S$1 million (US$728,000) in funding from Temasek Foundation, the sponsor of the Liveability Challenge and philanthropic arm of Temasek, Singapore’s state-investment company.

This marks the first time in the Challenge’s history that a nature-based solution has won top prize.

This year’s Challenge was themed around decarbonisation, agritechnology as well as nature-based solutions to climate change.

The Fairventures project aims to sustainably manage forests and improve livelihoods in Jambi, Indonesia, using a scalable social forestry model that incorporates blended finance.

Steve Melhuish, impact investor at Planet Rise and one of The Liveability Challenge judges, said: “What we really liked about Fairventures was that it is a true nature-based solution with a proven track record that has helped communities and has had a real carbon impact.”

Melhuish also commended Fairventures for its sustainable business model; it has secured offtakers for its products which include crops, timber and carbon credits.

Lim Hock Chuan, head of programmes, Temasek Foundation, also one of the judges, said: “This is one of the few nature-based solutions ventures that was genuinely end-to-end, with blended finance to make the project sustainable and viable. It also addressed a very big problem: what to do with vast expanses of degraded land in Indonesia.”

Tisha Ramadhini (centre) and Paul Schuelle (right) from social forestry venture Fairventures, winner of the 2022 edition of The Liveability Challenge, receiving the prize from judge Lim Hock Chuan, head of programmes, Temasek Foundation. This marks the first time in the Challenge’s history that a nature-based solution has won top prize. Image: Eco-Business

The winner was chosen from a field of finalists that included an initiative to curb the energy consumption of data centre through artificial intelligence and digital twin technology by a team from Singapore called Red Dot Analytics, and a large-scale carbon sequestration project by British team CQUESTR8.

Also among the finalists were GAIT, a team from Singapore and New Zealand that measures carbon, and Wasna, a team from Belgium and Singapore that makes low-cost cultivated meat using a universal serum.

The sixth finalist was ImpacFat, a Japan-Singapore team that produces alternative meat products using cell-based fish fat.

Additional prizes of S$50,000 from Quest Ventures went to Fairventures and ImpacFat, S$100,000 from Purpose Venture Capital was awarded to Red Dot Analytics, and S$100,000 from Amasia went to GAIT.

A further S$100,000 from PlanetRise was awarded to Fairventures. Wasna was also given S$100,000 by Silverstrand Capital.

According to an audience poll, Red Dot Analytics was the most popular candidate, followed by GAIT and Wasna.

Last year’s Liveability Challenge winner was SeaChange, a US-based company which produced construction materials like concrete and cement from CO2 dissolved in seawater.

Other past winners include TurtleTreeLabs, a Singapore-based company developing lab-grown milk, and Sophie’s Kitchen, a US-based firm developing sustainable, microalgae-based proteins.

Source Eco Business

Food rescue feeds the hungry and cuts greenhouse gas emissions

Posted on May 27, 2022 by dishanth

Feeding people in need was the main aim of Northland Food Rescue/Whakaora Kai Taitokerau when the organisation was first seeded in Whangārei in 2016.

But the benefits to the environment – by removing methane-producing food from landfills – quickly became obvious, community development worker Carol Peters said.

The organisation now receives food, which would normally go to landfill, from 35 suppliers, including supermarkets, cafes, growers and packhouses across most of Tai Tokerau.

Northland Food Rescue manager Peter Nicholas says Northland Food Rescue/Whakaora Kai Taitokerau is successful because it both feeds the hungry and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by saving food from landfill. DAVID WHITE / STUFF

The food is all weighed, so reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can be calculated.

It is then sorted and listed on a secure online “shop” so distributors – including churches, schools and food banks – can select which kai their clients need.

The scale of the operation means in the last year alone it saved 108 tonnes of food from going to waste, creating 305,000 meals and reducing 121 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Manager Peter Nicholas said 97 per cent of the donated food is perfectly edible, it just can’t be sold because of imperfections or expiry dates.

“It is a fault of our food supply system; it is usually perfectly edible food that can be distributed to people in need.

Northland Food Rescue has an online “shop” so distributors can select their food. David White / STUFF

“When there is food insecurity in this country, it makes no sense to be chucking food out.”

Food not fit for human consumption is fed to pigs or composted.

But most of the time, the food can be used with a bit of know-how, such as using fruit past its best in baking, Nicholas said.

Northland Food Rescue is run by 155 Whare Āwhina Community Houses, and its distributors include the organisation’s food bank and centre for homeless people, Open Arms.

Peter Nicholas says Northland Food Rescue has created 305,000 meals out of donated food in the past year, reducing 121 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. David White / STUFF

Another charity which benefits is Soul Food, which makes hot meals for the homeless and hungry once a week, as well as distributing food parcels.

Co-founder Chris Youens said Northland Food Rescue supplied quite a lot of Soul Food’s needs, especially the fresh produce important for a healthy diet.

“We get all sorts of produce through them which helps us make our meals on Monday nights,” he said.

Northland Food Rescue was about to move to a bigger warehouse in Whangārei and was trying to encourage more suppliers to donate unwanted food, Nicholas said.

“There is a lot more that could be rescued. Even after all these years of operating, it is still just the tip of the iceberg.”

Peters believed more produce could be rescued if people volunteered to help pick food or pick up tree fall.

It would help if New Zealand introduced a law to stop the likes of supermarkets from throwing waste food to landfill, as France did in 2016, she said.

But the organisation was also looking at a sweetener for suppliers: Investigating if carbon credits could be given to suppliers for their reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, Peters said.

Source STUFF