We all win when we care for the people caring for our rainforests | Kinari Webb | TEDxBoston

Deforestation is a scourge that compounds dire climate stress across the planet. How do we stop the destruction? It turns out, we can start by radically listening. The stressors on the planet's systems are often deeply interconnected to stressors within the local indigenous communities that have been guardians of their home forests for generations. A man who spent his life protecting his rainforest made a deal with illegal loggers when his child got sick. A widow in Madagascar cleared land critical for lemurs to feed her ten children. What do we expect of people forced to choose between survival of their family or their forest? When that impossible choice is allieviated, they choose both. Their tending creates tangible value enjoyed across the world. By asking communities what they actually need, then building clinics, livelihoods, and education systems that support stewards, forest destruction becomes unnecessary. In just one community, the results: 90% fewer households logging, infant mortality down 67%, and a 12-to-1 return on investment in averted carbon loss. It all begins with recoprocity. Dr. Kinari Webb is a physician and the founder of Health In Harmony, a nonprofit that has protected more than 20 million acres of rainforest in Indonesia, Madagascar, and Brazil by addressing the human health needs that drive deforestation. She first went to Borneo as a primatology student, then returned as a doctor, founding a community health clinic in one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. She holds a medical degree from UCLA and a master's in public health from UNC Chapel Hill. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx