Bernard Giraud, Co-Founder and President of Livelihoods Venture  One of the most appalling paradoxes of our times is that more than three-quarters of the one billion human beings suffering from malnutrition are small farmers: those who are supposed to be feeding their fellow men haven’t enough to feed their own families. These small farmers, herders or fishermen are for the most part terribly dependent on natural resources, from which they draw the majority of their own resources. In many cas..

Giraud, Bernard

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Field Actions Science Reports
The journal of field actions 
Special Issue 7 | 2013
Livelihoods
Introduction
Bernard Giraud
Electronic version
URL: http://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/2673
ISSN: 1867-8521
Publisher
Institut Veolia
 
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Bernard Giraud, « Introduction », Field Actions Science Reports [Online], Special Issue 7 | 2013, Online
since 16 May 2013, connection on 03 May 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/
factsreports/2673 
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Introduction
One of the most appalling paradoxes of our times is that more than three-
quarters of the one billion human beings suffering from malnutrition are 
small farmers: those who are supposed to be feeding their fellow men 
haven’t enough to feed their own families. These small farmers, herders or 
ishermen are for the most part terribly dependent on natural resources, from 
which they draw the majority of their own resources. In many cases, they 
have only their own bodily strength to rely on, occasionally supported by 
working animals. When the mangrove forests from which they catch the ish 
are destroyed, when the soil loses its fertility as a result of erosion, when 
deforestation leads to groundwater sources drying up, and when hurricanes 
ravage the dikes erected to protect their crops, the rural poor are impacted 
immediately and directly. For them, the deterioration of their ecosystem is a 
lot more than a conference discussion topic. For them, it means greater pov-
erty, food insecurity and real uncertainty about the future.
© Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under  
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
http://factsreports.revues.org/2673
Published 19 April 2013
Nevertheless, there is now a growing movement un-
derpinned by rural communities and local organisa-
tions that aims to redress the balance by experimenting 
with a range of different eco-agricultural and ‘eco-in-
tensive agricultural’ methods. This Livelihoods Special 
Issue of FACTS Reports points the way towards this 
new hope for the future: written by those actually in-
volved in the projects, it witnesses the commitment 
shown by hundreds of villages in the Casamance area 
of Senegal and the Sundarbans of India, who have suc-
ceeded in restoring life-supporting mangrove habitats 
on a very large scale. It gives a voice to organisations 
working in Kenya, Malawi, Congo and the high-alti-
tude valleys of Araku in India to develop agroforestry 
systems that intelligently combine trees with crops, 
skilled livestock farming and the organic fertilisation 
of soils to rapidly increase the yield per hectare of 
small farming operations at very low investment cost. 
It tells of successful experiments in providing access to 
energy, with examples such as the large-scale distribu-
tion of more eficient cookers that reduce wood con-
sumption and therefore deforestation.
The bottom line is that this Livelihoods’ Special 
Issue highlights a very simple thing that we must all 
take increasingly into account when making decisions, 
whether public or private, collective or individual: we 
all live on one planet, and everything that happens is 
interconnected. Throughout this revue, from the four 
corners of the world where they are taking direct action 
for change, the authors send us a series of strong mes-
sages and help us to answer some of the most crucial 
questions for our shared futures: can we successfully 
feed a global population that will be approaching 9 bil-
lion by 2050, without destroying what remains 
of natural biodiversity and pure water resources and 
without accelerating climate change? Will it be possi-
ble to keep alive the intimate and complex links be-
tween rural societies, the earth and the natural cycles of 
life? Do we understand how to build a modern world 
inspired by the best of this heritage to invent forms of 
rural existence suited to today’s world, and which will 
make younger generations want to live off the land? 
How can we build win-win relationships between fast-
growing cities and the countryside, with the markets of 
developed regions near and far, and between big busi-
ness and rural communities?
The Livelihoods Fund set up by a number of com-
mitted companies is another encouraging sign. By ap-
plying the mechanisms of the carbon economy to proj-
ects supported by rural communities and organisations 
capable of deploying them on a large scale, it has, in a 
very short time, enabled the delivery of projects whose 
economic, social and ecological impact will be very 
signiicant. In addition to the Fund itself, the 
Livelihoods Network has also been set up to build ac-
tive bridges between social entrepreneurs, NGOs, re-
search bodies, companies and governments to acceler-
ate the transfer of best practices, share expertise and 
encourage innovation. In short, to build an informal 
community of actors that think beyond geographic and 
institutional boundaries, share a single vision, have 
communal values and are all committed to taking ac-
tion at grass roots level. 
In re-reading the articles in this special issue, I could 
not help remembering a proverb that intrigued me as a 
child: “It is not necessary to hope in order to act.”. The 
authors of this revue are tireless actors driven by hope: 
it will be dificult to stop them.
Bernard Giraud
Co-Founder and President  
of Livelihoods Venture 
contact@livelihoods.eu
B. Giraud : Introduction
2 Field Actions Science Reports
ABOUT LIVELIHOODS
Livelihoods is a carbon fund that invests in large scale 
projects of agroforestry, ecosystem restoration and ac-
cess to rural energy. Investors in the fund are corpora-
tions that get certiied carbon credits with high social and 
environmental value in return for their investment. Since 
its creation end 2011, 8 corporations have joined 
Livelihoods:  Danone, which initiated the fund, Crédit 
Agricole, Schneider Electric, Hermès, SAP, Voyageurs 
du Monde, CDC Climat, La Poste.
Livelihoods projects are implemented by rural com-
munities with the support of ield NGOs. They are de-
signed to provide food security as well as revenue in-
crease to the farmers and their families while contributing 
to maintain or restore biodiversity, water resources, soil 
organic fertility, etc. Livelihoods Fund has already in-
vested in 6 major projects which are impacting more 
than one million people. 130 million trees have been 
planted which will sequestrate 5-7 million Tons of CO2 
on 20 years. Livelihoods business model is quite unique 
with up-front investment to allow poor communities pre-
inance their project. A Livelihoods Charter deines the 
vision and the principles that guide the selection process 
and the way projects are managed. 
In addition to the Livelihoods Fund, a capacity build-
ing and knowledge transfer organization was formed be-
tween ield practitioners, experts, researchers and the 
private sector: Livelihoods Network Its mission is to fos-
ter innovation and develop tools and methodologies that 
prove to be eficient in Livelihoods type projects. 
Companies are invited to bring their own expertise and 
participate to the co-creation process of the Livelihoods 
Network.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Special Issue on Livelihoods could not exist without the 
outstanding support of the companies that are engaged in the 
fund and more broadly in the Livelihoods adventure. It could not 
exist without the members of the Livelihoods Network which 
have strongly contributed to this Livelihoods issue in sharing the 
learnings from their ield experience.
We are also happy to pay tribute to our institutional partners 
that have brought so much to Livelihoods since its creation and 
play an important role in its development: IUCN (International 
Union for Conservation of Nature), the Ramsar Convention on 
Wetlands, The World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), and many 
others. We also would like to make a special thank you to the 
French Fund For Global Environment (FFEM) that brings its 
support to the Livelihoods projects and the activities of the 
Livelihoods Network.
This Special Issue would not have been possible without the 
engagement and tenacity of the FACTS Reports team. We thank 
them very warmly for giving the Livelihoods Network this op-
portunity. Our thanks also go to all those who have contributed 
to improving the quality of the articles submitted, and especially 
the FACTS Reports editorial committee members.


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