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HALO Facility launched to address one of the most significant barriers facing community-led forest conservation projects: access to early-stage and continuity capital

New York, 5 June 2026 – On World Environment Day, conservation organization Everland announced the launch of the HALO (Holistic Alignment for Lasting Outcomes) Facility: a new financing initiative designed to provide community-led forest conservation projects with the early-stage and continuity capital needed to establish strong foundations and advance toward investment readiness.

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, former CEO and Chair of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and former Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, will serve as HALO’s inaugural Chair. A recognized global authority on conservation finance, Rodríguez will oversee the Facility’s fundraising, governance, and strategic development.

HALO emerged from the Indigenous Amazon Outcome Bond initiative, which aims to mobilize institutional capital for community-led forest conservation projects under Equitable Earth: a next-generation carbon standard designed specifically to meet the priorities of Indigenous and traditional forest communities, and the integrity requirements of carbon credit buyers.

23 projects representing almost 90,000 community members across 17 million hectares of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru have stepped forward to participate. But many months of engagement with communities and investors revealed a consistent challenge: while institutional capital is increasingly interested in projects like these, many projects need money to complete fundamental development activities before they become ready for institutional investment.

HALO was created to address this gap.

As HALO raises capital, it will provide catalytic and bridge financing to high-potential projects, so they have the resources to establish the foundations upon which durable conservation depends. It is these foundations that mitigate risk and can unlock access to larger financing for projects and long-term revenue for communities.

“Durable conservation is most likely to be achieved when communities are at the center,” said Carlos Manuel Rodríguez,“ and REDD+ projects have proven to be one of the most effective ways to channel private finance to forest communities and biodiversity protection. Yet too often, promising projects fail because they lack access to the right capital at the right time. HALO was created to overcome this challenge, and I’m proud to serve as its Chair. Our aim is to help create the conditions for communities to build sovereign wealth while safeguarding millions of hectares of threatened rainforest.”

HALO is currently seeking philanthropic, public-sector, and private-sector partners to support its initial capitalization and help bring high-potential Indigenous-and-traditional-community-led conservation projects to investment readiness.

Puyr Tembé, community leader from the Tembé people and former Indigenous Secretary of the State of Pará, added: “Across the Amazon, Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities remain on the frontlines of forest protection, confronting daily invasions, deforestation, illegal mining, and other pressures that threaten our lives, our territories, and our ways of being. We are not merely witnesses to the climate crisis, we are part of the solutions the world is searching for. The challenge is not a lack of knowledge, wisdom, or capacity within our territories. The challenge is that those who profit from the destruction of the forest continue to have greater access to financial resources than those who dedicate their lives to protecting it. That is why we advocate for direct funding to Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities, without barriers that prevent resources from reaching those who are safeguarding the forest on the ground. When Indigenous territories are strengthened, the forest remains standing, biodiversity is protected, and climate stability benefits not only the Amazon, but all of humanity. Reforesting minds and investing in Indigenous Peoples means investing in real solutions for the future of our planet.”

• Vitals: A Better Understanding of the Body’s Signals — Previously, Samsung Health monitored specific health metrics to help measure users’ daily Energy Score. Now, Samsung Health is taking this a step further. When users wake up, the new Vitals feature analyzes five key overnight bio-signals — heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen — against their true resting baseline. It sends notifications only when it detects meaningful deviations, helping users determine if they need more rest or are fighting an illness, without causing alert fatigue.
   
• Heart Health Score: Improved Long-Term Wellness — Last year, Samsung introduced Vascular Load to help users monitor vascular stress and adopt a more holistic approach to health. Today, that vision evolves into the Heart Health Score. This single daily metric takes the insights previously found in Vascular Load — such as sleep, stress and activity — and combines them with body composition data. The result is a unified score that clearly identifies the habits impacting users’ long-term well-being, giving them immediate clarity on their heart health.
   
• Daily Cardio Load: Smarter Cardiovascular Training — When users are deciding how hard to push during aerobic exercise, Daily Cardio Load measures accumulated cardiovascular strain. By calculating daily load and maximum training capacity, it recommends optimal training targets and rest times to ensure users reach their goals without risking burnout or injury.
   
• Fitness Index: Seamless Progress Tracking — The Fitness Index ensures exercise routines are working by analyzing metrics like heart rate, VO2 max (a key measure of aerobic fitness) and daily steps against users’ peers. By clearly identifying individual physical strengths and weaknesses, it delivers tailored content and personalized goals so users can make continuous, targeted improvements.

Yadgir, June 05: Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, today inaugurated the Women–Led Agro–Processing Centre and Farmers’ Training and Common Facility Centre (FT-CFC) at Baddepalli in Yadgir district, Karnataka. The facility is the fifth such centre established under a series of farmer-centric initiatives aimed at strengthening agricultural value chains across the Kalyana Karnataka region.

The centre has been established by NABARD leveraging the Hon’ble Minister’s MPLADS funds, to promote value addition, reduce post-harvest losses, improve market access, and create sustainable livelihood opportunities for farmers.

A distinctive feature of the project is that it is being managed by Baddepalli Women Farmers Producer Company Limited, an FPO comprising 727 women members, making it the first women–led agro–processing facility in the region. The centre is expected to serve as a model for women–led rural enterprises by enabling women farmers to participate across the agricultural value chain – from production and processing to branding and marketing.

Addressing the gathering, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said: “I am delighted to inaugurate this agro–processing centre, which is entirely operated by women. Yadgir, one of Karnataka’s youngest districts, continues to face developmental challenges, including low female literacy and multidimensional poverty. Initiatives such as this will help improve incomes, generate employment opportunities, and enhance the overall quality of life in the district.

Agriculture remains the backbone of Yadgir’s economy, with nearly 75 per cent of the district’s land under cultivation. The district produces around 22,500 metric tonnes of groundnuts annually. This facility will enable farmers to convert raw produce into value-added products such as roasted and salted peanuts, peanut butter, groundnut oil and de-oiled cake, thereby improving returns to producers.

I urge NABARD to facilitate wider market access for these products through e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms. I also request the district administration to extend all necessary support to ensure that the unit achieves its full potential. I look forward to seeing ‘Yadgir Groundnut’ emerge as a recognised brand, much like other successful agricultural products from across the country.”

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Shaji K.V., Chairman, NABARD, said: “The Yadgir Training-cum-Processing Centre represents a scalable model for farmer-led value addition and women’s entrepreneurship. It is aligned with the vision of Hon’ble Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman to strengthen women’s participation in economic activities and create sustainable livelihood opportunities in rural areas.

NABARD has been entrusted with facilitating a sustainable training and processing ecosystem across the Kalyana Karnataka region through the effective utilisation of MPLADS support. We are grateful to the Government of Karnataka and the district administration for their partnership in making this initiative a reality.”

The centre is equipped to process 480 metric tonnes of groundnuts annually and manufacture a range of value-added products including peanut butter, groundnut oil, roasted and salted peanuts, and de-oiled cake. Product quality and food safety standards will be supported through testing at the NABL-accredited laboratory of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Raichur.

In addition to processing activities, the facility will function as a training and capacity-building hub for Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and rural youth. A multi-channel marketing strategy has been developed, combining traditional retail networks and trader partnerships with digital platforms such as ONDC, while exploring onboarding opportunities with leading e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms.

The Yadgir centre builds upon the success of four similar facilities established earlier in Koppal, Raichur, Ballari and Vijayanagara, further strengthening the region’s agricultural processing infrastructure and farmer-owned enterprises.

The event was attended by Shri Sanjay Lohiya, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Government of India; Captain Dr. K. Rajendra, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka; Shri B.G. Patil, Member of the Karnataka Legislative Council; Shri Sharana Gouda Kandakur, MLA, Gurumathakal Constituency; Dr. A.K. Sood, Deputy Managing Director, NABARD; Shri Sanjiv Puri, Chairman and Managing Director, ITC Limited; along with senior officials from the State Government, NABARD, banks, FPOs and the farming community.

New Delhi, June 5: The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), in partnership with The Quantum Hub (TQH) and supported by the Women in Digital Economy Network (WiDEN), today launched The Evolving Landscape of Digital Inclusion Report. Drawing on the latest round of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS-3) conducted between 2022 and 2024, covering 47,473 households and 212,607 individuals across nearly every state and union territory, the report offers one of the most comprehensive nationally representative pictures yet of how digital technologies are actually used in Indian homes. This report is a part of the India’s Transformation Series of publications launched by NCAER.

The report headlines that India’s next digital challenge is no longer connectivity, but meaningful participation. While India’s internet user base has witnessed remarkable growth in the last few years, the depth and quality of digital engagement remain starkly uneven. Without intervention, digital transformation risks reproducing, rather than reducing, India’s existing social and economic inequalities. The report links household-level access with individual-level use across gender, social groups, class, age, and geography, offering key stakeholders a granular evidence base on how digital technologies are embedded within India’s social fabric, and where the deepest gaps lie.

“NCAER has always worked to generate rigorous, independent evidence on the transformations shaping India’s growth and social progress,” said Professor Sonalde Desai, Centre Director and Professor, NCAER National Data Innovation Centre.“This report extends that purpose to one of the defining shifts of our time, offering policymakers, regulators, and industry a clear, nationally representative view of where digital inclusion is working, where it is failing, and who risks being left behind. With AI revolution sweeping the global productivity landscape, a grounded reality check is needed to ensure that India’s next generation is ready to embrace new frontiers of productivity..”

The key findings from the report are:

• Mobile access is near-universal, but advanced device ownership is deeply unequal. 95.1% of households own a mobile device, but only 8% own a computer – and the richest quintile is nearly twenty times more likely to own a computer than the poorest.

• India’s internet is mobile-first, and over a quarter of households remain offline. 71.4% of households connect via mobile, while 27.5% have no internet access at all, rising to 52.1% in the poorest quintile.

• The gender divide is the most persistent axis of digital inequality. Among working-age adults, 57.6% of men use the internet compared to just 35.6% of women – and the female-to-male ratio narrows but does not close as economic status rises.

• A hidden divide in digital skills underlies these patterns. 1 in 5 households needs help from outside the household to access digital services, rising to nearly 1 in 3 among households with no education.

• Digital inequality is being inherited across generations. Only 37.8% of children aged 13–16 use the internet, with use rising from 30.2% among children of unschooled mothers to 52.7% among those whose mothers completed higher secondary education.

• The elderly face sharp exclusion. Only 9.4% of individuals aged 60 and above use the internet, raising urgent concerns as welfare delivery moves online.

• Among connected households, use is dominated by entertainment, not opportunity. 66% use the internet to watch movies, serials, or news, but only 16.1% for online learning and 11.4% for government services.

“This collaboration pairs NCAER’s analytical depth with the policy lens needed to translate evidence into action,”said Aparajita Bharti, Co-founder, The Quantum Hub. “The data is clear: connectivity alone does not translate into capability. India’s next phase of digital policy must focus as much on functional skills, vernacular design, and closing the gender gap as it has on rolling out infrastructure.”

As India builds the next phase of its digital economy, the report makes the case that success can no longer be measured only by the number of online users, but by whether digital technologies translate into real opportunities in learning, livelihoods, and access to public services for every section of society.