Author: Andrea Rebensburg (Andrea Rebensburg)

Invasive species often harm the native flora and fauna. In the case of the beautiful water hyacinth, we are talking about a major catastrophe. Some initiatives are developing innovative ideas to contain its massive spread.

Thomas Betzold has founded a start-up in Sri Lanka that produces biochar from the invasive water hyacinth. In this way, a harmful plant is transformed into a soil conditioner that compensates for CO2.

David Lebuser founded Sit'N'Skate to give wheelchair users a sense of freedom and self-realisation. The project offers wheelchair sports, training and an authentic skate lifestyle to break stereotypes and promote inclusion.

We highlight some startups and initiatives that are successfully helping people in underserved regions implement simple solutions to everyday challenges on their own. What all models have in common is helping people to help themselves and transferring knowledge.

Marlene Lerch is the co-founder of the DIY platform dooiy. For people in underserved communities, these step-by-step instructions for solving simple challenges can be the first step toward a better life.

Julika Diering is co-founder of the project Fish'N'Bricks. They collect plastic waste from land and sea in Indonesia and eventually process it further into plastic bricks. The aim is to give the apparently useless plastic waste a new value.

Salem El-Mogaddedi is the co-founder of Conflictfood. Since his inspiring journey through Afghanistan, he and the Conflictfood team have been successfully supporting people in conflict regions through direct trade with local producers.

Lisa Ertle is co-founder of the association Zeugen der Flucht, which carries out anti-racist educational work. The focus is on direct exchange between refugees and young people in schools in order to successfully break down prejudices.

Corals have been suffering from climate change for years. In particular, the rise in water temperature can lead to coral mortality, and instead of thriving reefs, all that remains are dreary seabeds. Therefore, more and more people worldwide are committed to restoring already damaged reefs.

There are forward-looking ideas for countries suffering from persistent water shortages. Various initiatives are addressing the problem of water scarcity in very different ways and are successfully seeking innovative solutions. Cosmotaics, for example, is developing solar parks for desert areas that simultaneously produce water via condensation.

Together, Chaiim and EYD are helping traumatized women and girls reintegrate into society through a self-sustaining social business model.

The organization Apopo takes advantage of the African giant hamster rat's highly developed sense of smell. It has spent the last 25 years preparing these affectionate rodents to detect two of the deadliest threats on the planet: Land mines and tuberculosis. Both emit their own odor, undetectable to humans, which the rats can quickly sniff out. Soon, new areas of operation are to be added.