“Founded on Radical Listening, Health in Harmony is a rainforest conservation organization holistically addressing the health of people, ecosystems, and the planet.”
The tension between conservation of natural resources and the health and wellbeing of local populations has long existed. Dr. Kinari Webb, an American physician and Ashoka and Mulago fellow, founded Health in Harmony (HIH) based on the conviction that the health of the environment and the health of the people go hand in hand. Through the process of “Radical Listening”, solutions are designed with the local communities that honor and respect their collective knowledge and wisdom. By providing affordable healthcare, along with creative methods of payment (seedlings, manure, handicrafts), the vicious cycle between illness and the need to turn to lucrative, but destructive practices of deforestation have been interrupted. Projects have been launched in Borneo, Madagascar and Brazil, resulting in both forest conservation and reforestation and reduced infant mortality and incidence of tropical diseases.
