Voluntary work opportunities

Ensuring that Ivorians, from an early age, pay attention to the environment, it is one of the Ivorian government’s many environmental objectives. As such, in 2019, the Ministry of Water and Forests initiated a project in the Mamie Fêtai Highschool of the city of Bingerville. The initiative is part of a bigger project that aims at raising awareness and tries to engage the Ivorian school in the recovery of the forest cover of the country. Ivory Coast is a delicate case in West Africa, from a forestry point of view. Since 1960 the country lost more than 80 percent of its forests, mainly to cocoa production and agricultural practices (1,3)

The Million Trees project was a programme launched by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff in 2017 to plant a million predominantly native trees and shrubs over a period of three years (Ref. 1,2,3,4). It aimed to make Auckland a greener, more beautiful place while creating carbon sinks, protecting the city’s waterways and improving the city’s living environment (Ref. 2,4). The programme engaged a variety of actors in the planting activities, including local boards, iwi, schools, service and social sector groups, private entities, the council group, the New Zealand Transport Association (Ref. 1). Particularly notable partnerships included those with the Department of Corrections and the Trees that Count Trust (Ref. 2,4,6).
The initial goal was met in 2019, and the project has been renewed for 2019-2022 (Ref. 1,7).

The Water Forest region covering around 250,000 hectares in the hinterland of Mexico City provides 70% of the city's urban water demand through the aquifers located below the forest. It consists of forest fragments and grasslands, encompasses four mountain ranges, and two adjacent Mexican states – Morelos and Mexico State with national parks (2). However, as native grasses are replaced by human settlements and poorly sited tree-planting projects, water available to recharge the aquifers declines and their loss contributes to flooding in densely populated urban areas downstream (1, 2). The Water Forest Initiative initiated by a non-governmental NGO aims to develop and implement "a regional conservation strategy to provide water and other ecosystem services to Mexico City (CDMX), Mexico State, and Morelos through the protection and rehabilitation of the Water Forest Area" (1 p6).

"Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET) is a non-profit environmental education organization that seeks to improve both the inclusiveness of urban nature reserves and the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation by connecting nearby disadvantaged and racialized communities with municipally-owned nature reserves." (1 p15) CTEET has 3 flagship projects: providing low-cost environmental education programs to children, offering training and development to Cape Town youth to access jobs in the Green Economy and supporting and driving conservation initiatives in Cape Town through its Nature Care Fund (2).

Henteleff Park is a 'passive park' located along the banks of the Red River and Normand Creek in Winnipeg where the rural character of a landscape that nurtured early Métis culture, Winnipeg’s budding market garden industry and the Henteleff family has been reserved (2). In the 1980s and '90s after being the city's tree nursery it was up for real estate development when "a group of volunteers from the nearby residential area, led by the Henteleff family, presented a convincing plan that showed the value and potential of the site as a public park. As a result of successful lobby efforts, the land was rezoned as a park in 2002 and named Henteleff Park after the original owners of the farm" (1 p21).
With its grasslands, riparian forests, Red River banks and the Normand Creek, the Park is home to a diverse plant and wildlife, providing refuge for songbirds, a spawning area for fishes and a serene sanctuary for community residents to enjoy a quiet respite from the bustle of the city life all around (2).

The Xochimilco borough of Mexico City is a World Heritage and Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System wetland site, with significant cultural and ecological importance in food cultivation and water ecosystem (1). Due to the deterioration of the area and lack of top-down initiatives for the restoration and conservation of the area, a number of grassroots initiatives trying to revive the traditional chinampa cultivation and restore the natural state of the ecosystem function and its native species such as the Xochimilco axolotl through reinvigorating sustainable practices that produce quality food and foster water supply. This NBS introduces 3 such grassroot intiatives: (a) Cooperativa Chinampayolo (b) Restauración Ecológica y Desarrollo A.C. (REDES) with its EcoQuilitl producer-consumer network and (c) Umbral Axochiatl A.C. (local community organisation). (1)

This project started as a grassroots movement by Hunter’s Bar Infant School (HBIS) in Sheffield when they were seeking to actively help to protect children from air pollution. HBIS led a fundraising campaign that, in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, provided the base to create a green barrier in their playground. The NBS is part of a bigger study called BREATHE that provides the science behind the project, which involves the design of the green barrier, the assessment of its impacts and a feasibility evaluation for installing green barriers in other schools in Sheffield and in Buenos Aires. (1)

In 2014 a counselling office of the NGO Green City was established, entitled The Greening Office (Begrünungsbüro), with the objective of better engaging citizens in green adaptation measures, such as green roofs, green façades, green walls or green courtyards (Reference 1, 5). Financed by the City’s Department of Health and Environment, the project addresses climate change adaptation through greening private properties, achieved through counselling citizens and companies, with diverse outreach and networking activities. The NBS recognised the potential of the many unused private spaces, such as south-facing facades and flat roofs to better adapt to climate change across the entire city (Reference 1).

Urban gardening developed in Rome as a reaction to the unequal distribution of available green spaces in densely populated areas of the city, and to the lack of care for the already existing ones. Since 2006, a large number of associations and informal citizen groups have started to engage in collective gardening by performing both Guerrilla Gardening-style actions and long-lasting community gardens projects run by local associations. This social and spatial transformation is turning most of its urban voids and interstitial spaces into places for collective enjoyment thanks to the spontaneous engagement of local dwellers. [1]

The Porto Biospots Network is a partnership of the Municipality with "Infraestruturas de Portugal", and is a network of urban forest areas (predominantly autochthonous) that aims to allow the reforestation of adjacent transit routes, major highway nodes, and routes of circulation within the city, transforming environmentally poor lands into green areas that provide multiple ecological services. This initiative foresees the reforestation of 14 areas and the planting of 10,000 trees by 2021, having already completed 2 roads, with a total of 1305 native trees planted. The biospot is the materialization of a part of the Municipal Ecological Structure of Porto. [1][4]