Aim to Implement and Scale Up Climate Innovation Projects in Africa
Media Contact: Laurel Lundstrom, llundstrom@pathfinder.org
October 19, 2022— Pathfinder and the Bellona Foundation are announcing a new partnership to implement and scale climate innovations advancing the role of women in regions of the world currently facing the most difficult impacts of climate change.
Pathfinder has built a trusted, community-based network of health-related services for women and girls in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Norway-based Bellona brings a solutions-based approach to environmental challenges around the world.
Together, the goal of the partnership is to create innovative, environmentally sustainable projects that protect health, and provide jobs, economic opportunity, and leadership skills for women and their families on the front lines of climate change.
“Climate change threatens health and health systems in the communities where we work,” said Lois Quam, CEO of Pathfinder. “Extreme weather caused by climate change is growing more severe, creating barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights and exacerbating the inequities of the women and girls. The Bellona Foundation and their focus on innovative projects that bring proven, locally based solutions to address climate change is a game changer for us. They will help us equip the women, girls, and the communities we serve with the skills they need to thrive.”
Pathfinder has worked in over 100 countries and sees firsthand how often the world’s toughest challenges are solved by investing in women and girls. To meet the gravest threat to our planet today, the world must activate our greatest untapped resource: the resourcefulness, know-how, and leadership of women and girls.
Frederic Hauge founded Bellona Foundation in 1986 and has been President ever since. Having worked with climate and environment issues in Norway, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and the US for decades, Hauge was announced “Hero of the Environment” by Time Magazine in 2007.
“I am convinced that solving climate change is not a matter of hope. It is a matter of choice, decision, and courage to implement action. Bellona’s goal is a restorative, just, and democratic carbon-negative society. We work with innovators, pioneering companies and organizations who develop creative solutions. Teaming up with Pathfinder will realize groundbreaking work to solve the food, energy, water, and climate crises. This new partnership will allow scale-up of our projects to benefit the women, girls, and communities where they live,” said Frederic Hauge.
Every year since the foundation opened in 1986, Bellona has become more technology and solution oriented with our main focuses in the areas of renewable energy, transport, shipping, building technologies, as well as a broad range of climate-friendly technologies, such as carbon capture and storage. A recent example of their pioneering work is found in their support of the Sahara Forest Project in Jordan.
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The Bellona Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation that aims to meet and fight the climate challenges by identifying and implementing sustainable environmental solutions. The foundation works towards reaching a greater ecological understanding, protection of nature, the environment, and health. Bellona is engaged in a broad range of current national and international environmental questions and issues around the world.
Pathfinder works with local partners to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world—including those affected by poverty, conflict, climate change, and natural disasters. Taken together, Pathfinder’s programs enable millions of people to choose their own paths forward.
