Your Next Big Idea is one of the only books in the world to be carbon negative and is helping to complete 12 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In partnership with myclimate, Your Next Big Idea is one of the only books in the world to be completely carbon negative and is working towards 12 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
To do this, Samuel Sanders works with myclimate to continually calculate the environmental impact of creating and transporting books to the final consumer. After looking at the carbon emissions taken to produce and send books, Samuel Sanders and Heard Publishing, LLC donates to the Community Reforestation in Nicaragua, a project run by myclimate, to ensure that the carbon offset is greater than the carbon created. The Community Reforestation in Nicaragua myclimate project is designed to work towards achieving 12 of the U.N. sustainable development goals.
With each book sold, Samuel Sanders will continue to donate to ensure that Your Next Big Idea, isn’t just a guide to helping entrepreneurs, innovators, and creatives come up with big ideas to tackle the world’s problems but is also a small part of the solution.
You can learn more about the project below.
Community Reforestation in Nicaragua
Project type: Land Use and Forestry
Project Location: San Juan de Limay and Somoto, Nicaragua
Project Status: In operation
Annual CO₂ reduction form the entire project and all donators: 624,216 t (across 15 years)
Videos on the Community Reforestation in Nicaragua
About Community Reforestation in Nicaragua
This community-based reforestation initiative is situated upon a critical watershed that feeds into Nicaragua’s most important estuaries, the Estero Real. This estuary is home to one of the biggest extensions of mangroves and migratory birds in the region and has been recognized by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. By reforesting this region, the program plays an important role in regulating the hydrological cycle, providing important water and biodiversity benefits both locally and internationally, and improves the quality of life of smallholder farmers.
The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals
The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all." The sustainable development goals were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.
The 12 Goals this Project Supports
*Please note this is what the entire project supports. Samuel Sanders and Heard Publishing, LLC are only one of the many contributors that make this project a success.
Over 6.9 million USD payments are being made to communities across 1,357 farming families, where many live on less than $2/day.
The project has conducted over 30,000 capacity-building workshops providing education & training to smallholder farmers.
Women make up 45% of the professional team, many of whom hold leadership positions.
The regeneration of the critical watershed helps to protect over 100,000 people from drought and flash-flooding.
Natural wood fallen from forest provides a renewable source of energy for cooking.
Additional income is created through selling firewood and high-value woodcrafts from the smallholder forests.
This project creates 2,900 seasonal jobs per year. 80% of them are landless farmers.
There are 292 rural communities engaged in the project.
Farmers are not only sequestering carbon dioxide and regenerating ecosystems but adapting the microclimate and reducing on-farm temperatures to protect their yields.
1,518,386 t carbon dioxide being stored.
There have been 10 million native trees planted, reforesting over 6,167 hectares of land (the equivalent of 11,527 football fields), habitat, and local wildlife regeneration.
All forests are grown through equal partnerships with farmers, communities, local government, international funders, and the project implementation team.
How Community Reforestation in Nicaragua Carries Out its Mission
These aims will be achieved through the establishment of multiple small-scale native species forest plantations on smallholder land. Participants entering the project own underutilized land and must demonstrate that participating will not conflict with their subsistence activities, notably cattle ranching and agriculture. The project area covers 86 square kilometers and will support rural communities desperately in need of support and incentives to take control of their resources. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with a GDP per capita income of $1,079 per year.
Land use planning around watersheds is a key supporting activity; the project area includes one of the most critical watersheds in the municipality of San Juan de Limay, which suffers from seasonal water shortages and flooding. Increased forest cover will retain water through the dry season and minimize flooding in the rainy season. The project will also distribute fuel-efficient fireplaces equipped with chimneys that reduce smoke in the household, generating health benefits, particularly for women.
The project addresses the causes of deforestation, ensures direct, ongoing community involvement and technical training, and provides financial benefits for participants throughout the project. This occurs through payments for ecosystem services (PES) and income from timber and sustainable forest products. As a result, this multi-faceted approach will reduce forest degradation by easing pressure on surrounding natural forests while at the same time sequester quantifiable volumes of CO₂ from the atmosphere and improve the environmental and socio-economic conditions of families located in the community of San Juan de Limay.
The project contains 3 types of plantations: Mixed species plantations (multi-purposed tree plantations composed of fast-growing firewood species and longer-lived hardwood species), coffee agroforestry (shade-grown coffee and fruit trees), and silvopastoral planting (tree planting on areas use for cattle-breeding).
About myclimate
myclimate is a partner for effective climate protection, globally and locally. Together with industry partners and private individuals, myclimate wants to shape the future of the world through advisory services and educational programs, as well as its own projects. It does so in a market-oriented and customer-focused way as a non-profit organization.
Partners include the World Wild Life Foundation, Dyson, Lufthansa, and more. To learn more click the button below.