December 2010
Winrock Ecosystem Services experts Sandra Brown, Nancy Harris and Sarah Walker attended the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Cancun, Mexico, and were selected to speak and present scientific posters at the expo on Forest Day, Dec 5. Forest Day Four – organized by the Center of International Forestry Research (CIFOR) – is a respected platform for sharing and exchanging ideas and views concerning forests and climate change. One of the posters showcased how the Ecosystems Services team at Winrock International has been a leader, during the past decade, in the development of credible accounting and monitoring methodologies used to calculate emissions and removals of greenhouse gas emissions due to project activities in the forest and agricultural lands sector. The other poster presented significant findings from a World Bank-supported study on a New Estimate of Carbon Emissions from Land-Use Change. Winrock American Carbon Registry leaders, Nick Martin and John Kadyszewski were keynote speakers at two side events hosted by the International Emissions Trading Association and the U. S. Business Council for Sustainable Energy.
The Wallace Center at Winrock International announced its 2011 request for applications for its Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development (HUFED) Center. The Wallace HUFED Center will fund one-to-two year grants, eligible to both urban and rural applicants, to establish and enhance innovative food enterprises bringing more healthy food to underserved communities across the United States. Letters of Interest should be submitted online no later than Jan. 14, 2011. Click here for a full set of grant guidelines and instructions.
Winrock recently completed a study for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s Biofuels Task Force that resulted in a report entitled “Sustainable Biofuel Development Policies, Programs and Practices in APEC Economies.” Major biofuel consumers in APEC and around the world are beginning to screen their biofuels for sustainability criteria through regulatory or voluntary standards. The Winrock report presents current activities associated with sustainable biofuel policies, programs, and practices in the 21 APEC economies .
Winrock’s American Carbon Registry® (ACR) announced approval of the Carbon Reduction Guarantee, a risk mitigation product for U.S. and international forest carbon projects. Companies registering forest carbon projects on ACR now have the flexibility to use the risk-mitigation product to guarantee their projects against unforeseeable environmental threats or “reversals” in lieu of making contributions to a buffer pool. Full announcement.
Winrock’s Wallace Center was featured in an article on sustainable food in The Washington Post.
Read about how the AMORE rural renewable energy program is helping to bring safe drinking water to Pangapuyan residents of Mindanao in the Philippines in this story from the Zambo Times.
Are you interested in working at Winrock? Click here to search current openings and post your resume. Would you like to volunteer with Winrock? Click here to learn more about new opportunities.
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Chinese honor Winrock with Silver Stamp for Role as Co-Creators of Panda Standard
 In December, Winrock International hosted a Chinese delegation including leaders of the China Beijing Environmental Exchange (CBEEX), with whom Winrock has collaborated to establish the Panda Standard, China’s first voluntary carbon standard. During the visit, Winrock received a silver standard stamp symbolizing the collaboration between CBEEX and Winrock.
CBEEX officials highlighted the critical role voluntary standards like the Panda Standard will play in stimulating pilot projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in China. The Panda Standard was unveiled in Dec. 2009 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
“As a co-founder of the Panda Standard, Winrock and its American Carbon Registry are working with CBEEX to assure that the quality of Panda Standard methodologies exceeds international market requirements,” said John Kadyszewski, director of the American Carbon Registry. “We have special interest in methodologies that can both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce poverty in rural China.”
Winrock International — along with Bluenext and the China Forestry Exchange — is a co-founder of the Panda Standard, which enables the Chinese government and CBEEX to focus initially on carbon emission reduction projects that can benefit poor rural populations in China. This priority can bring new sources of income to communities that embrace improved agricultural practices, as well as land and natural resource management. 
USAID Recognizes Two Winrock International Volunteers at Luncheon
 Two Winrock International volunteers were among 18 Presidential Volunteer Service Award recipients honored on Dec. 7 at a luncheon hosted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Dr. Kathleen Colverson and Dr. Juan Guerrero were recognized for their volunteer work under the John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer program.
Dr. Colverson, the associate director for program development at the University of Florida International Center in Gainesville, Fla., completed two volunteer assignments in 2009 and 2010 with Winrock’s Partnership for Safe Poultry in Kenya (PSPK) project. She assisted the Ministry of Livestock Development by conducting a value chain analysis of the Kenya poultry sector and was instrumental in the development of the Kenya National Poultry Improvement Program.
Dr. Guerrero, a livestock extension advisor emeritus from the University of California, has completed 10 volunteer assignments with Winrock in six countries since 2004. He completed an assignment in 2009 in El Salvador, where he introduced innovations that improved cattle nutrition, reduced feed cost and increased milk production in the northern zone of the country.
Winrock International is one in a group of organizations implementing the Farmer-to-Farmer program, which supports Feed the Future, the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative. Since 1991, Winrock has fielded more than 2,200 skilled professionals as Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers on development programs in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Eurasia – improving the livelihoods of 8.1 million people worldwide. 
Winrock Wraps Up Milestone Year with Symposium Focused on Future of Global Development
 After a series of events throughout the year honoring Winrock International’s 25th anniversary, Winrock wrapped up the milestone year with a symposium on Dec. 9 to focus on what lies ahead for international development and Winrock’s role going forward.
Dr. Rosamond Naylor addressed the attendees at an event hosted by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in New York City. The keynote presentation focused on “Food Security and the Future of Global Development.” Naylor is director of the Program on Food Security and the Environment, William Wrigley Senior Fellow, and professor of Environmental Earth Systems Science at Stanford University. The environmental and equity dimensions of food production are the focus of her academic and field research around the world.
Following Naylor’s presentation, Winrock board members, key staff and invited leaders offered their insights on strategic priorities to fulfill Winrock’s mission over the next decade.
“At Winrock, we are committed to achieving our mission of empowering the disadvantaged, increasing economic opportunities, and sustaining natural resources – here at home and around the world,” said Frank Tugwell, president and CEO of Winrock International. “This symposium was a wonderful platform for an earnest discussion about the future of our planet and how Winrock can have a positive impact on that future." 
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