<
https://e360.yale.edu/features/africa-tree-cover-farmer-managed-natural-regeneration>
"For decades, there have been reports of the deforestation of Africa. And they
are true — the continent’s forests are disappearing, lost mainly to expanding
agriculture, logging, and charcoal-making. But the trees? Maybe not, according
to new satellite data analyzed by artificial intelligence and a growing body of
on-the-ground studies. This new research is finding ever more trees outside
forests, many of them nurtured by farmers and sprouting on their previously
treeless fields.
Across the continent — from Senegal and Niger in the west, to Ethiopia in the
east, and Malawi in the south — smallholder farmers are rejecting government
advice that trees should be expunged from fields because they get in the way of
growing crops. Instead, they are allowing previously suppressed trees to
regenerate on their land — to improve soils and crop yields; to provide
harvests of fruit, fuelwood, and fodder for their livestock; and ultimately to
achieve a better life for their families.
As large areas of farmland across Africa turn from brown to green, the results
are also good for local economies, offering an easy and cheap way to intensify
their farming and increase output, as well as benefiting biodiversity and the
global climate. An acre of growing trees on farmland captures and stores up to
4 tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year, researchers say."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-inequality-aids-south-africa-tortoises-galapagos/>
Cheers,
*** 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
