Tergar Charity Nepal, Mingyur Rinpoche’s NGO working in the Nubri valley, in the remote northern border region with Tibet, was awarded the 2023 Equator Prize.
The Equator Prize is an international prize awarded by the United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP). It “is awarded biennially to recognize outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. As sustainable community initiatives take root throughout the tropics, they are laying the foundation for a global movement of local successes that are collectively making a contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As local and indigenous groups across the tropics demonstrate and exemplify sustainable development, the Equator Prize shines a spotlight on their efforts by celebrating them on an international stage.”
The award ceremony will happen online from Dubai in the week leading to COP-28 (mid-October). Mingyur Rinpoche will speak at this event.
And more great news! The creation of Himalayan Environment and Life Protection ( H.E.L.P.)
To better serve Himalayan communities, Tergar Charity Nepal has recently been divided into two separate entities working symbiotically: Tergar Charity Nepal and Himalayan Environment and Life Protection, H.E.L.P.
To continue Tergar Charity Nepal’s work to mitigate climate change in the Himalayas, Rinpoche has created Himalayan Environment and Life Protection (H.E.L.P.), a new non-profit, led by Project Coordinator Margot Clavier, to empower communities to become resilient in the face of climate change and protect the environment in the Himalayas. Rinpoche’s vision is to support human flourishing through work that reduces all forms of suffering and leads to increased innate well-being.
H.E.L.P. will continue Tergar Charity’s women’s empowerment projects teaching basic literacy in English, Nepali, Math, and vocational training such as the sewing of renewable cloth pads and cooking. In Samagaun, Rinpoche’s birthplace, situated at 3550m altitude at the bottom of mount Manaslu (8163m), women will continue to learn and make yak cheese.
H.E.L.P. will continue and expand Tergar Charity’s work of creating sustainable biodiversity-based value chains to generate income for communities. One such example is the Rosa Macrophylla rose-hip value chain, which enables Samagaun villagers to gain income from picking and drying rose hips, which are sent to Canada and then made into the Himalayan Mountain Tea by a luxury tea company partner, TEALEAVES. 100% of the tea’s profits go to the community.
H.E.L.P. will build on Tergar Charity’s successful bio-climatic greenhouses project. This project built 62 passive solar greenhouses in Samagaun and Samdo (3900m) and enabled villagers to grow vegetables that had never been available to the village before, such as: tomatoes, zucchini, beans, cucumbers, chilis, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and cauliflower.
H.E.L.P will implement a project to make communities like Samagaun and Samdo more resilient in the face of climate change. This will include: supporting communities to massively reforest using traditional and drone technology, supporting the use of climate smart agriculture, promoting agroforestry, creating sustainable value chains such as yak wool handicrafts and medicinal herbs, and supporting the use of renewable energy to decrease deforestation.