https://archive.ph/sJAVA
"Maradi, Niger—For centuries, rich woodlands dotted this dusty, sun-blasted
region south of the Sahara. There were fat locust bean trees, wispy bushes, and
sparse pockets of winter thorn and tamarind. By the time Ali Neino was a boy in
the 1980s, however, just one lonely tree sprouted from his family’s land, and
he could see clear to the horizon.
“There was no vegetation in between the village and the fields,” recalls Neino,
45. “No trees, no shrubs, nothing.”
Decades of drought, land-clearing, and demand for firewood had left Niger
nearly treeless. Intensive farming to feed the world’s fastest-growing
population ensured new trees would not take root. Government efforts to
reforest in the 1970s failed. Sixty million trees were planted; fewer than 20
percent survived.
But on a recent stroll along his family’s farm outside Dan Saga, Neino pointed
to the trees growing everywhere. Sun-bleached acacia trunks poked through the
soil. Branches and fallen leaves littered the yellow dirt. Five kinds of acacia
grew. There were fruit-bearing trees and a type of warty bush known as dooki.
In the past 35 years, as scientists begged nations to get serious about
reviving forests, one of Earth’s poorest countries, in one of the planet’s
harshest regions, added an astonishing 200 million new trees—maybe more. Across
at least 12 million acres of Niger, woodlands have been re-established with
little outside help, almost no money, and without driving people off their
land. The trees here weren’t planted; they were encouraged to come back
naturally, nurtured by thousands of farmers. Now, fresh trees are popping up in
village after village. As a result, soils are more fertile and moister, and
crop yields are up."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
