We want you to know that, in response to questions and concerns raised by members world-wide, the Rotary International Board of Directors has confirmed that the 2022 Rotary International Convention will still be an in‑person event in Houston, Texas, USA, 4-8 June.

In addition, the Board has determined that all participants, including Rotary International preconvention participants, must either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) OR provide a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours before their arrival at the convention.

To encourage attendance, considering this news, there is a special registration rate of US$495 through 28 February, which is retroactive to 16 December. Any registrations made at the US$575 rate since 16 December will automatically be refunded the difference in price — no action is required from the registrant. Please register today.

Please, share this news with your Rotary community and invite a fellow member to attend this year’s convention with you.

Thank you for your support, and we will see you in Houston!

A new report from the Institute for Economics and Peace highlights grave ecological threats around the world — and suggests ways advocates can nurture a more benign environmental future.

by Miles Howard

At first glance, the Jaguar cacao fruit resembles a glowing green orb wrapped in earthen brown roots. But the fruit’s value lies within: a multitude of edible seeds that, when roasted and ground into powder, give chocolate a nuttier flavor profile.

The fruit grows in a few ecosystems in Central and South America, such as the foothills of southeastern Colombia. There, in the Amazon River basin, Rotary Peace Fellow Lorena Rodriguez has played a pivotal role in seeding this rare crop and quite a few others. During her fellowship, Rodriguez spent time in rural Colombia conducting field research on food sovereignty, which prioritizes the needs of the people who grow and otherwise produce food over the demands of the markets and corporations that distribute it. In 2019, she joined forces with friends and launched La Realidad, an NGO that helps communities in the Putumayo region of Colombia grow their own fruit and vegetable crops using regenerative agriculture practices — such as crop rotation, composting, and cover cropping — that help create a more nutrient-rich soil and reduce excess carbon in the atmosphere.

“Putumayo has been highly affected by the armed conflict in Colombia, by narco traffic, and by the structural violence that arises from the gap between urban and rural societies,” Rodriguez says. “A lot of the elders there were leaving, and their kids cannot sustain their lives doing agriculture the way their parents did, using pesticides and heavy chemicals to produce bigger yields of corn or sugarcane for the global market. It’s not sustainable economically or environmentally.”